Bangladesh Nationalist Party would hold sit-in for two hours across the country on March 2, protesting the government’s decision to hike gas price by 22.7 per cent.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Tuesday made the declaration at party’s central office at Nayapaltan in the capital during a press briefing.

The sit-in programme would start at 10:00am and end at 12:00pm on March 2, he said.

Meanwhile, left-leaning political parties on Tuesday announced to besiege the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources after sponsoring a half-day shutdown in Dhaka protesting the government’s decision to hike gas price by 22.7 per cent.

Hours after the strike the High Court issued a rule seeking stay on the second phase of gas price hike that was scheduled to make effective from June 1, for six months.

According to the declaration of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission, prices of kitchen gas will be increased to Tk 750 for a single burner and Tk 800 for double burners, from tomorrow.

Currently, tenants and house owners are paying Tk 600 for a single burner and Tk 650 for double burners, a month. The BERC also declared that gas prices would be went up again to Tk 900 for single burners and Tk 950 for double burners from June 1.