The story was told by BNP lawmaker Shakhawat Hossain, who added that the exchequer loses Tk 700 crore as a result of this kind of corruption in the public utilities sectors. This is an especially powerful indictment of government fecklessness, coming as it does from a stalwart of the ruling party and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the establishment ministry.

The corruption that the minister spoke of is not restricted to the gas sector but pervades our public utilities. Nor is this problem a new one. With this kind of corruption running rampant, it is no wonder that our public utilities are unable to provide service to the general public in an effective manner.

The time is long overdue for the government to take action to put a halt to this corruption in the public utilities sector. It beggars belief that a government as powerful as the current one is powerless to act against a simple meter reader.

Successive governments have long maintained that they cannot afford to alienate the powerful government employees' unions and are thus held hostage to their demands.

But this fear is misplaced. Any loss of support that the government will suffer as a result of moving against this kind of institutional corruption will be more than offset by the support it will receive from the public in general for doing so.

No government can deliver if it allows itself to be held hostage to the machinations of a corrupt few. The government must rein in rogue operatives such as the unscrupulous meter reader before they bankrupt the public utilities sector and destroy public confidence in the government.