POWER shortage is causing frequent load-shedding and immense suffering to people in their homes and businesses throughout the country. Even load-shedding is not sparing Dhaka city despite the government claim to have soared power generation by several thousands megawatts in the past years. Reports from the district towns and countryside highlighted a different situation where people have to live for hours together daily without electricity. Housewives are using candles for cooking, students can’t study, hospitals can’t properly attend patients and mills and factories have to use their own generators to run production at soaring cost. Load-shedding is causing biggest setback to the industrial sector.
It is invariably making public life miserable. Electricity comes and goes. We don’t know who will take this responsibility although we have concerned Minister and an adviser and officials to look after the matter. It is no secret that expansion of rural electrification network has become more of a ruling party business by setting up hundreds of miles of new supply lines raising new electric poles across the field. Leaders are collecting money from remote villagers to give power connection to their homes. It is making ruling party men wealthy. But the local grid is not having enough electricity to give it at local level. Power sector development has mainly remained stuck up in the electric poles and not reaching peoples home.
The government activities in power sector as its massive campaign suggests are mainly focused on setting up rental power plants to produce electricity overnight at a huge cost. It is forcing common people to pay higher power tariff to make the rich only richer. Construction of big power projects is only moving slowly because they will supply electricity at lower cost and reduce dependence on rental plants; which is not in the interest of the party men now controlling power supply.
But the blackout of countryside at night is different issue. The point is that the supply is much lower than demand. The government is even importing electricity from India to mitigate the crisis but without massive breakthrough in local electricity generation as demand is steadily rising, such measures partly seem to be deceiving the nation sidetracking the critical issue. Many wonder why load-shedding will hit the nation at this moment when demand for electricity for irrigation in paddy field is yet to begin. However it is summer time and most electricity is being used at government offices and official residences of government bigwigs who have not to pay. So statistics may show higher power generation but countryside is not benefitting from it.
The government spent so much money on power sector, and yet why the countryside is inconvenienced by shortage of power supply? The country has become good for the few lucky ones.
It is invariably making public life miserable. Electricity comes and goes. We don’t know who will take this responsibility although we have concerned Minister and an adviser and officials to look after the matter. It is no secret that expansion of rural electrification network has become more of a ruling party business by setting up hundreds of miles of new supply lines raising new electric poles across the field. Leaders are collecting money from remote villagers to give power connection to their homes. It is making ruling party men wealthy. But the local grid is not having enough electricity to give it at local level. Power sector development has mainly remained stuck up in the electric poles and not reaching peoples home.
The government activities in power sector as its massive campaign suggests are mainly focused on setting up rental power plants to produce electricity overnight at a huge cost. It is forcing common people to pay higher power tariff to make the rich only richer. Construction of big power projects is only moving slowly because they will supply electricity at lower cost and reduce dependence on rental plants; which is not in the interest of the party men now controlling power supply.
But the blackout of countryside at night is different issue. The point is that the supply is much lower than demand. The government is even importing electricity from India to mitigate the crisis but without massive breakthrough in local electricity generation as demand is steadily rising, such measures partly seem to be deceiving the nation sidetracking the critical issue. Many wonder why load-shedding will hit the nation at this moment when demand for electricity for irrigation in paddy field is yet to begin. However it is summer time and most electricity is being used at government offices and official residences of government bigwigs who have not to pay. So statistics may show higher power generation but countryside is not benefitting from it.
The government spent so much money on power sector, and yet why the countryside is inconvenienced by shortage of power supply? The country has become good for the few lucky ones.
