Workers Party MP Rashed Khan Menon has demanded discussions in parliament on the deal with US firm ConocoPhillips to explore oil and gas in two deep-sea blocks.
Taking part in budget discussions in parliament on Saturday, Menon said, "We'll have to extract our gas resource. We don't want to live in the Medieval Age. I demand discussions in the House on the deal."
"People own the state. But it cannot be allowed that they [people] will remain in the dark about the deal and some advisors, chairmen and secretaries will know all about it. I want to alert people about the game of the multinational gas firm," he added.
Referring to the admission of oil and gas company Niko Resources that it bribed former BNP junior minister A K M Mosharraf Hossain, Menon said, "Maybe, we'll see in the future that there had been underhand dealing in the agreement with ConocoPhillips, too."
On June 13, he told the House that while the government was planning to import LNG, the multinational company will have the authority to export 80 percent of gas, and the country will be left with the rest 20 percent only.
"This is a tragedy that on one hand, the government is planning to import LNG and allowing export of gas on the other," he added.
The agreement with the US firm came when the country is reeling under severe energy crisis and many factories are out of operation or cannot come on stream due to gas crisis.
A citizens' platform, the National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports', declared to enforce a general strike in the city on July 3, protesting the deal signed on June 16.
'GOVERNMENT'S POPULARITY DECLINING'
Menon slated the budget for the 2011-12 fiscal saying that there was no word on coal lifting policy in it.
"I thank the finance minister for his remark on fixing the goals of the budget, but he'll have to take some unpleasant decisions, or lese its implementation will be difficult," he said.
"People consider budget as a shopping bag which is getting squeezed gradually. The government's bag of popularity is also on the wane," he added.
'TARIQUE, COCO MODELS OF CORRUPTION'
The workers party president termed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Coco as 'models of corruption'.
"They have established themselves as role models of corruption among the youth. The nation will have to be protected from this rot," he said.
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury MP said, "The sons [of Khaleda] were made looters by taking money from the state coffer. I urge Khaleda Zia to apologise to the nation for this."
He also urged the government to bring back and try Tarique, who is facing several corruption cases.
A Dhaka court on Thursday convicted Coco in a money-laundering case filed during the last caretaker government. Coco is now in Thailand, while Tarique in London.
Taking part in budget discussions in parliament on Saturday, Menon said, "We'll have to extract our gas resource. We don't want to live in the Medieval Age. I demand discussions in the House on the deal."
"People own the state. But it cannot be allowed that they [people] will remain in the dark about the deal and some advisors, chairmen and secretaries will know all about it. I want to alert people about the game of the multinational gas firm," he added.
Referring to the admission of oil and gas company Niko Resources that it bribed former BNP junior minister A K M Mosharraf Hossain, Menon said, "Maybe, we'll see in the future that there had been underhand dealing in the agreement with ConocoPhillips, too."
On June 13, he told the House that while the government was planning to import LNG, the multinational company will have the authority to export 80 percent of gas, and the country will be left with the rest 20 percent only.
"This is a tragedy that on one hand, the government is planning to import LNG and allowing export of gas on the other," he added.
The agreement with the US firm came when the country is reeling under severe energy crisis and many factories are out of operation or cannot come on stream due to gas crisis.
A citizens' platform, the National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports', declared to enforce a general strike in the city on July 3, protesting the deal signed on June 16.
'GOVERNMENT'S POPULARITY DECLINING'
Menon slated the budget for the 2011-12 fiscal saying that there was no word on coal lifting policy in it.
"I thank the finance minister for his remark on fixing the goals of the budget, but he'll have to take some unpleasant decisions, or lese its implementation will be difficult," he said.
"People consider budget as a shopping bag which is getting squeezed gradually. The government's bag of popularity is also on the wane," he added.
'TARIQUE, COCO MODELS OF CORRUPTION'
The workers party president termed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Coco as 'models of corruption'.
"They have established themselves as role models of corruption among the youth. The nation will have to be protected from this rot," he said.
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury MP said, "The sons [of Khaleda] were made looters by taking money from the state coffer. I urge Khaleda Zia to apologise to the nation for this."
He also urged the government to bring back and try Tarique, who is facing several corruption cases.
A Dhaka court on Thursday convicted Coco in a money-laundering case filed during the last caretaker government. Coco is now in Thailand, while Tarique in London.
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