Opposition Chief Whip and National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam has accused the government of raising LPG cylinder prices again without justification, saying the move was meant to benefit illegal syndicates, and demanded that the increase be withdrawn immediately.

“I strongly protest this unreasonable and illegal price hike,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Monday night.

Nahid Islam said cylinder gas prices had almost doubled within eight months of the BNP coming to power. Despite repeated increases, he said, the government had been unable to offer any rational explanation.

He claimed LPG was still being sold in neighbouring countries at about half the price charged in Bangladesh. He did not name the countries or provide figures, and the claim could not be independently verified.

More worrying, he said, cylinders were not available anywhere in the country at the government-set price. Until now, he said, they had been sold at 700 taka to 1,000 taka above the fixed rate.

“The government had failed completely to control the cylinder gas market”, he said, adding, “and its incompetence had left the country’s 180 million people hostage to a handful of companies.”

Earlier, the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) raised the retail price of a 12kg LPG cylinder by 223 taka to 2,060 taka from 1,837 taka, with the new rate taking effect from 8pm on Monday.