Prof Abul Barkat yesterday claimed that the prime minister’s remarks on the critics of rental power projects were aimed at him and that they were made in a light vein.
He was referring to Sheikh Hasina’s speech at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on the occasion of the 40th National Cooperative Day on Saturday.
Prof Barkat said the PM’s remark on snapping power lines of the critics of rental power came after he [Barkat] had spoken about the power subsidy problem on a private television channel.
Barkat, chairman of the Bangladesh Economic Association, was addressing a seminar on “Missing Minority and Dalit Situation in the Country” at Curzon Hall of Dhaka University.
Stating that the government needed only Tk 20,000 crore for subsidies, he noted that it was possible to collect around Tk 50,000 crore every year from taxpayers. The government did not need to go to international donors on the matter of the construction of the Padma Bridge. It could rather arrange the fund from many affluent donors at home, said the economist.