More than a hundred agreements were made in the country’s power and energy sectors through special laws during the Awami League period. Most of these were power sector agreements. Although the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) fixed the technical aspects of the implementation of large projects in this sector on paper, everything was basically taken care of by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina kept control of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry with herself for more than 15 years of the Awami League government until she was ousted. Although the ministry was distributed each time in the formation of the government four times in a row, she never lost control of the technically and economically important power department. Large projects like Adani, Rampal and Matarbari were approved exclusively. Even the public was not given any opportunity to know about these agreements.
Those concerned say that the previous government used to run technical ministries like power through bureaucrats of its choice. They approved projects according to their own convenience. Through this, thousands of crores of taka were removed from the power sector through corruption and irregularities. As a result, on the one hand, a huge amount of liabilities and debts have been created in this sector, and on the other hand, the responsibility has been imposed on the consumer by increasing the price of electricity to meet these deficits.
BD Rahmat Ullah has served in various companies or organizations in the country’s electricity sector, especially the then Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) under BPDB, and the Electricity Policy and Research Institute Power Cell. He told Daily Industry, “Electricity is a sector where large projects were taken. There is a lot of money here. As a result, taking many things into consideration, the top leaders of the government do not want to lose this ministry. The previous government had appointed secretaries of their choice to get various agreements passed here. They even ran the boards of various companies of the power department as chairmen. They used to pass projects of their choice, where there was a huge amount of commission trade. For these reasons, this ministry was very important.”
BNP has said that all the agreements made in the electricity sector during the Awami League government will be reviewed if it comes to power. At a press conference held at the BNP Chairperson’s office in Gulshan on Thursday, the issues of corruption, theft and corruption in the power sector were highlighted. The party also called on the interim government to make all agreements made in this sector public.
When asked about this, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told Daily Industry, “Sheikh Hasina kept the ministry under her to take full share of all the loot, theft, corruption and commissions that would be committed from this sector. The main objective was to make Bangladesh more indebted from corruption and these projects.”
When asked about what BNP thinks about keeping this important ministry in the hands of the Prime Minister in the future, Mirza Fakhrul said, “It depends on what decision we make. It is not that there will be a problem if there is a Prime Minister here. Rather, it is important whether there is an intention to steal or corrupt. We will not commit corruption. We will definitely ensure that such corruption does not occur.’
Two former and current officials of the Power Department spoke to Daily Industry about the agreements made in the power sector in the past years. On the condition of anonymity, they told Daily Industry that projects were given to people of their choice through a special law made by the Awami League government in the power sector. And a huge amount of commission was taken from these projects. Although the BPDB gave its opinion on technical issues in the contract, it did not gain much importance. Rather, the files were repeatedly sent back and amended from the top level of the government to do it their way. The contracts were amended according to the preferences of the government and the companies. In most cases, the decisions that came from the top level were implemented.
The country’s power sector has been kept to itself by the prime ministers for the last three decades. Especially during the Awami League government, Sheikh Hasina was the Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources for more than a decade and a half from January 2009 to August 5, 2024. She did not hand over the responsibility of the power ministry to anyone. Rather, he kept two as state ministers under his ministry. Among them, Mohammad Enamul Haque was the state minister of the power ministry from 2009 to November 2013. Nasrul Hamid held the post of state minister for more than a decade from 2014 until the fall of the Awami League government. In addition, Ahmed Kaikaus and Abul Kalam Azad served as secretaries at various times. Both of them later served as principal secretaries of the Prime Minister’s Office for a long time. There are allegations that they played a behind-the-scenes role in implementing large power sector projects, giving work to preferred companies, commission trading and even project procurement. A huge amount of money was embezzled by implementing unwanted contracts.
It is not that the Awami League government kept the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources under its control as the prime minister alone. Earlier, when the BNP came to power in 1991, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was also the minister of this ministry. She served in the ministry from March 1991 to September of that year. However, she later handed over the charge of this ministry to Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a member of the current standing committee of the BNP. He served until March 19, 1996. Later, Oli Ahmed Bir Bikram was given the responsibility of the minister of the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources for a short time. In 1996, the late professor of BUET, Dr. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, was the advisor to the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources of the caretaker government. Later, when the Awami League government was formed, Lieutenant General (retd.) Nuruddin Khan took charge as the minister of the ministry. He served until March 29, 1998. Later, no one was in charge of the ministry as a full minister until the caretaker government took office. At that time, Professor Rafiqul Islam served as the state minister.
In 2001, during the caretaker government, AKM Amanul Islam Chowdhury was in charge of the ministry as an advisor. Then, when the BNP came to power, no minister was appointed to the ministry. At that time, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud served as the state minister for most of the time. Anwarul Kabir Talukder served as the state minister for the last four months of the BNP government.
After the army-backed caretaker government took power in 2006, three advisors served in the ministry. The advisors who served for separate terms were - Hasan Mashud Chowdhury, Md. J. Ruhul Amin Chowdhury and Tapan Chowdhury. Then, after the Awami League took power in 2009, the party’s president Sheikh Hasina took charge as the minister of the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources. He served as the minister of the ministry until he was ousted from power through a student-public uprising.
However, although the power ministry in the country has been under the control of the Prime Minister for a long time, it has never been seen like this in neighboring countries. Currently, Manohar Lal is in charge of the power ministry in India, Deepak Khadka is the energy minister of Nepal, and Leonpo Gem Tshering, the energy and natural resources minister of Bhutan. And Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari is serving as the power minister of Pakistan.
When asked, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, the state minister for the power, energy and mineral resources ministry of the BNP government, told Daily Industry, “The public has the right to know what happened in the contracts signed during the previous Awami League government in the power sector. The immunity law has been repealed. Now this government should disclose these contracts to the public. We have said that these contracts will be reviewed if BNP comes to power. The public will know what really happened.”
The power ministry was under the Prime Minister during the previous government, and BNP leader Iqbal Hasan Mahmud was asked whether the ministry would be run by technical and other skilled and experienced people in the future. He said, “Although the power sector is a technical matter, it is not rocket science that no one other than a technical person can come and run it. Rather, if transparency and accountability are ensured, anyone can be here.”
Experts, however, believe that the country’s power sector needs someone who is skilled and has complete knowledge of the subject. Especially in this sector, a person who can ensure contracts, consumer rights, and even low-cost electricity services should be in charge here. On the one hand, this will give impetus to the development of this sector, and on the other hand, there will be a strong involvement of the power sector with the economy.
Energy expert and BUET professor M. Tamim told, “In managing the power sector, experienced and skilled leadership is always needed. If no one like that is available, then a minister can be appointed under the technocrat quota. The main goal is to provide affordable and low-cost electricity to the public. In our country, the Prime Minister has run this ministry on his own for the past three decades. “But it can be seen that in countries like neighboring countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan and even Pakistan, the Prime Minister has not led in running such ministries. Someone experienced or from the defense has led.”
