As the Energy Ministry backed out from a plan to cut 40 percent gas supply amid a crunch, industry operators Thursday agreed to run voluntary "self-monitoring" to check their gas misuse, reports UNB.

This agreement came at a meeting between the government and the industry operators at the Energy Ministry, which allayed fears of the owners about a slump in their operations.

Chief Advisor''s Special Assistant Dr. M Tamim convened the meeting to find out a solution to the nagging gas and power crises across the country following a sharp reaction from the industry operators.

Earlier, the state-owned Titas gas company had issued an order to different industries to cut down by 40 percent their gas consumption and the edict triggered a sharp reaction.

Apparel-sector associations BGMEA and BKMEA claimed that they had to incur huge losses in their production, which ultimately could cast a major negative impact on the country''s export earnings.

After meeting, BGMEA President Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez told reporters that they were assured by the CA'' s Special Assistant that there would be no restriction on gas use in the factories.

"So, in response, we have offered to run self-monitoring in our own industries to check misuse and save gas as much as possible," he said.

The meeting decided that the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) would conduct the self-monitoring and give their feedback within two weeks to the Energy Ministry.
"We''ll see how much we can save from our present consumption level and give the feedback within two weeks," Pervez said.
He also said that in the present gas-and power-supply situation, industry operators are very much panicked about the future of their industries.

"If we do not agree with the government''s austerity call, then it will aggravate the situation and we will not receive gas in future. We understand that depending on the present gas and power supply, we should not go for any expansion of our units," Pervez added.

He noted that they decided to cooperate with the government in creating awareness to check waste of gas considering a good future.

He said the government should immediately take measures to extract coal as it will not be wise to depend on gas resources for power generation. "Otherwise, we''ll be heading towards a very difficult situation."

Dr Tamim said that as industry operators offered themselves to do self-monitoring, the government welcomed their gesture.
He, however, said the government had earlier requested the industry operators to reduce their gas consumption considering the need of power production. "But, we never imposed any restriction."

BKMEA President AKM Fazlul Haque, BTMA President Abdul Hye Sarker, Steel and Re-rolling Mills Association President Ali Hossain and other leaders of different industrial sectors were present at the meeting.

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