Treasury bench members on Monday blamed the acute energy and gas crisis in Bangladesh on the “short-sightedness, corruption and protection of partisan business interests” of the ousted Awami League government.

Opposition lawmakers agreed with the assessment but also blamed the incumbent government, arguing that the roots of the crisis lie in “mismanagement, indecision, and above all, the government’s incompetent leadership”.

They made the remarks during a debate in the parliament on a motion brought by Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman on the energy crisis. The motion called for “effective measures to prevent severe disruption to electricity generation, closure of industries leading to unemployment, and serious damage to the national economy caused by the acute energy and gas crisis”.

Shafiqur proposed forming a taskforce or cell to identify solutions to the energy crisis.

In reply, State Minister for Energy Aninda Islam Amit urged the opposition to formally submit its proposals to his ministry.

“Such a body should not be a short-term measure, but a permanent mechanism to ensure coordinated action. If both the government and the opposition could move forward together through this platform, public confidence would be restored. Citizens would at least recognise that both sides [are working together],” Shafiqur said.

He said the crisis was not entirely created by the present government but had been inherited from its predecessor.

Bangladesh had faced energy problems in the past, he said, but the current crisis is far more severe and has created widespread anxiety and fear across the country over how it would be resolved.

Jamaat MP Muhammad Nazibur Rahman said responsible figures in the government had failed to offer hope of resolving the acute energy crisis.

Instead of presenting solutions, he said, officials were suggesting that “counting the days” was the only option, while attempting to conceal the truth and shift blame onto the opposition.

He noted that even at the highest level, the opposition had been challenged to demonstrate how the crisis could be resolved within six months.

“The root causes of the crisis are corruption, mismanagement, indecision, and above all, incompetent leadership by the government,” he said.

Nazibur proposed several reforms to address the energy and power crisis, including increasing domestic gas production, ensuring regular fuel supplies, providing financial guarantees for coal-based power plants, maintaining a three-month fuel reserve, fully utilising existing energy and power infrastructure, and implementing medium- and long-term plans.

He criticised the reliance on imported coal, saying foreign currency was being spent while domestic coal reserves remained untapped. He called for a task force of experts to examine ways to utilise local coal and reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves.

He also stressed that gas supply should be prioritised for electricity generation, fertiliser production, export-oriented industries and other essential sectors.

For the long term, Nazibur proposed a balanced energy mix comprising domestic gas, coal, renewables and nuclear power, supported by a smart, disaster-resilient and cyber-secure grid.

He said resolving the financial governance crisis would require faster decision-making and stronger accountability.

Nazibur also suggested exploring an “open access” system under which factories could purchase electricity directly from producers. Guaranteed payments to producers and uninterrupted supplies to industries, he said, could help sustain production and keep factories running.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the Middle East war broke out soon after the new government took office, and the fuel crisis emerged immediately afterwards.

“During the previous government, many power plants were built. The Awami miscreants nurtured foreign dependence by establishing single-source gas-based power plants. This was done to benefit their party tycoons,” he said.

He said no exploration had been carried out in the country’s onshore or offshore fields. At present, under the prime minister’s directive, initiatives have been taken to drill wells both onshore and offshore, he said.

On capacity charges, Salahuddin said, “This fascist legacy was left behind by Sheikh Hasina, and we inherited it. But now, for electricity needs, the prime minister has approved three rental power companies, on what basis? No capacity charge! No power, no money! That is our patriotism.”

State Minister for Planning Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki also criticised the previous government, saying, “The energy policy was adopted for the benefit of a few favoured individuals.”

As a result, he said, no arrangements were made for gas exploration and extraction. Instead, an import-dependent energy policy was pursued, with electricity management relying on it. Special benefits were also given to certain individuals in LNG imports, he said.

The present government, he added, had undertaken initiatives for gas exploration in the national interest.

State Minister for Energy Aninda Islam said short-, medium- and long-term plans had been taken to address the energy and electricity crisis.

He said the current crisis had resulted from past policy mistakes, corruption and mismanagement. Since assuming office, the government had been taking realistic measures to overcome the situation.

The government’s target is to achieve some relief by 2027, greater relief by 2028 and create a situation free from an energy crisis by 2030, he said.

Aninda said Barapukuria had surplus coal, but transporting it to other parts of the country was currently too costly to be profitable. In future, however, if environmentally sustainable coal production in the northern region could be increased, plans were in place to build the necessary rail infrastructure to transport it to other regions.

He further said offshore gas exploration had begun through a bidding round, alongside the drilling of 150 gas wells, 30 of which were already underway.

According to the plan, these wells are expected to add 2,320 million cubic feet of gas to the national grid by 2031.

Due to the Middle East crisis, the government had to purchase LNG from the spot market at high prices, incurring additional expenditure of about Tk 15,350 crore, the minister said.

On meter rent, Aninda said, “If we could waive meter rent, we would have been glad. But after extensive review, we found that waiving meter rent would require Tk 29,000 crore. Therefore, we are analysing how meter rent can gradually be reduced over time.”