A combination of technical glitches and management failures is responsible for the nationwide blackout on Nov 01. This was revealed in the investigation by an eight-member ministerial committee formed for the purpose. According to a committee member, failure in managing voltage fluctuation on the national grid and disharmony between the high-voltage substation for power import from India and the national grid caused the unprecedented blackout. It is after all a good sign at least one member of the probe body has made their findings public in a discloser to an English daily on Wednesday. The committee which was scheduled to submit the report on Nov 20 has been able to prove itself active enough in finding the causes behind the nationwide power disruption. We appreciate the speedy action to identify the causes of the darkness, but questions still remain as it is apparent that some loopholes are there to conceal some causes behind the truth.
The country was in darkness for about 15 hours on Nov 01 due to an unprecedented blackout caused by the disruption in electricity supply from India and technical failure of the national grid that spelt humanitarian disasters. The complete blackout downed the signaling systems of military forces and law enforcing agencies, disrupted mobile and internet connectivity, air trafficking signals at airports, suspended ATM services, and most dangerously limited services of life-supporting medical equipment. Importantly, the blackout made the masses feel insecure and helpless. The government instantly formed the committee to find out the cause and impact of, and remedy for, after the massive blackout. Accordingly, the committee has acted upon its mission quickly.
However, though the committee blamed the low voltage for the Nov 1 power disruption, but it did not deal with the cause(s) of the low voltage that caused the disaster — it is undeniably an unexplained phenomenon. Surprisingly, the investigation report is not going to put forward any punitive disciplinary actions against those who were responsible for the grid mishap. Moreover, the investigation has luckily (!) found no irresponsibility on the Indian part which is still doubted as the center of the possible causes that compelled Bangladesh to stay in the dark as the consequence of unequal friendship. Although ineptness and lower grade technical installation by some officials in Bangladesh were among the reasons, nobody was recommended to be taken into task by the probe committee. Even the committee has failed to make any remedial recommendations, as per the report carried in the daily on Thursday.
We feel that the government should pursue a strategic policy of energy or power self-sufficiency. Over dependency to anyone should not be wise — be it that India or any country. To do that, first we must shake off the knee-jerk foreign policy. At the same time, we ask the government to book the perpetrators responsible for the colossal blackout and also those who handled the post-incident situation poorly and ineptly.
