Fuel crisis

By Saifuddin Ahmad North Badda, Dhaka
11 June 2006, 18:00 PM
In my primary school life in early '70s, I did observe that my father used to light up his cigarettes with a petrol-run lighter. However, in the '80s I found the CNG-run / gas lighter flooded the market. If CNG-run lighter is viable, why not CNG-run lantern, 'Kupi lamp', 'Hajjak lamp' etc are feasible in 68,000 villages (the number may be as high as 82,000) and slum areas of towns as well as cities in Bangladesh? Nowadays, millions of kerosene-run lighting and cooking devices etc are consuming a huge amount of imported fuel.

If consumption of kerosene reduces substantially by this way, import of crude oil also reduces proportionally and fuel price re-fixation in line with international market will not affect the poor people. The fuel smuggling to the neighbouring countries will also be reduced.