The government has taken an initiative to make the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports understand the necessity and importance of the deal with US oil company ConocoPhillips for oil and gas exploration in two deep-sea blocks.
The Awami League-led government claimed that since the goal of the committee and the government was the same — to uphold the interest of the country — the difference of opinion could be ironed out after holding a dialogue, said sources in the government and AL.
AL's presidium member Obaidul Kader, after a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday, phoned up the convener and member-secretary of the committee and urged them to sit for discussion with the government to pinpoint points of disagreement and take a decision in this regard.
The committee neither accepted nor rejected the proposal, but demanded a formal, written invitation to the dialogue.
Committee sources said
that a representative of the Prime Minister's Office on Saturday also met the committee's member-secretary, Professor Anu Muhammad, at the Communist Party of Bangladesh's office and told him that the prime minister had expressed her interest to talk with the committee.
Both Kader and the PMO's representative requested the committee's leaders to withdraw Sunday's hartal but they expressed their regret, saying that it was not possible to do so at such short notice.
'After meeting the prime minister I made phone calls to the committee's leaders and urged them to talk to the government,' Kader told New Age on Sunday, adding that it was logical that the government should first ensure the fulfilment of the domestic demand for gas.
He also said that if the aim of the government and the committee was same, they should not find it difficult to reach an understanding.
Kader also said that although the committee rejected the request for withdrawal of the hartal as it was made at the eleventh hour, the possibility of holding a dialogue has not been diminished.
'The deal was signed with a private company, not with a representative of the US government, so it will be not difficult to amend any clause, if necessary,' he said.
The high-ups of the government, however, claimed that the deal was signed in accordance with the national interest and it was important to find and extract gas in the shortest possible time because there was a risk of the gas being siphoned off by neighbouring countries through pipelines.
'We want to find gas as early as possible,' said a top government official, adding that there was no possibility of holding formal talks with the committee at this moment.
Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury told New Age that due to lack of machinery and expertise, the government had to sign a deal with the US company in the energy-starved country's interest.
'We are obligated to meet our domestic demand before allowing gas to be exported,' said Matia, a presidium member of AL.
She said that they would able to make the committee understand the importance of the deal if a dialogue could be arranged.
Anu Muhammad told New Age that they were ready to discuss the issue but the government should give the committee a written invitation.
'We told the representative of the prime minister that it should be ensured that no gas will be exported and the copy of the contract should be given to us before the dialogue,' said Anu.
Source : New Age
