Sagar Biswas :
A parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday expressed severe discontent for frequent load-shedding at village-level despite enough power generation. It is not only causing immense sufferings to the people but also tarnishing the image of the government, the committee observed.
To overcome the crisis, the parliamentary watchdog has asked the authorities concerned to upgrade the power distribution system by setting up enough sub-stations, installing supply lines and repair the old machineries.
The above recommendations came at the 33th meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Government Assurances held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban which was presided over by committee’s chairman Keramat Ali MP.
“We’ve got a lot of complaints that the rural areas do not get electricity most of the day. Whereas the authorities have given household connections there. We think this situation is tarnishing the image of the government. So, we’ve urged the authorities to take immediate step in this regard,” Keramat Ali said.
Around half the country is experiencing acute power shortages, despite the Power Division’s reassurance that there would be no load-shedding of electricity. The situation is especially worse in rural areas, from east to west and north to south, where load-shedding lasts for six hours every day on an average.
Committee members Md Shahiduzzaman Sarkar MP, AKM Shahjahan Kamal MP, Md Abdul Mazid Khan MP and Mir Mostaque Ahmed, among others, attended the meeting. Besides, Secretary to the Power Division and other senior officials of ministry concerned and parliament secretariat were present.
The meeting discussed the “assurances” of providing adequate electricity to every household given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and State Minister Nasrul Hamid on behalf of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in the ninth parliament sessions and in the sessions of the 10th parliament, sources said.
Committee member Mir Mostaque Ahmed said, “We’ve been suffering from acute power crisis where frequent load-shedding is a common scenario in Satkhira region. The JS body expressed severe discontent over the present situation and asked the authorities concerned to take immediate step.”
In the JS body meeting, the Power Division officials informed that West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited through two development projects is now working to install 3822 transformers in Rajbari and its adjacent areas. Of them, 395 transformers have already been installed.
In line with the government’s policy to give house-to house electric connection; about 1crore 95 lakh consumers have been brought under electricity network, the meeting was also informed.
“The rural areas are suffering from severe crisis. The BREB is getting 3,500MW when the demand is for 5,300MW,” Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) Chairman Maj Gen Moin Uddin said.
According to power officials, increased demand for power, disruption in supply due to shortage of transmission lines and towers, maintenance work at power plants and gas crisis are the major reasons of load-shedding in the rural areas.
“Increasing demand for new electricity connections, damaged towers due to floods and storms, maintenance work of some power plants and gas crisis are the major reasons behind the load-shedding,” a senior official of the Power Division preferring to remain anonymous, said.
Sources said faulty installations of some major transmission lines have been disrupting power transmission from the country’s eastern region to the southwestern region. The power supply is also being disrupted in the northern region for the same reasons.
The daily demand for electricity is currently 12,000MW, but the amount of power generated is nearly 8,000MW. But the authorities could supply around 7,500MW to the distribution sub-stations across the country, according to sources.
A parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday expressed severe discontent for frequent load-shedding at village-level despite enough power generation. It is not only causing immense sufferings to the people but also tarnishing the image of the government, the committee observed.
To overcome the crisis, the parliamentary watchdog has asked the authorities concerned to upgrade the power distribution system by setting up enough sub-stations, installing supply lines and repair the old machineries.
The above recommendations came at the 33th meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Government Assurances held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban which was presided over by committee’s chairman Keramat Ali MP.
“We’ve got a lot of complaints that the rural areas do not get electricity most of the day. Whereas the authorities have given household connections there. We think this situation is tarnishing the image of the government. So, we’ve urged the authorities to take immediate step in this regard,” Keramat Ali said.
Around half the country is experiencing acute power shortages, despite the Power Division’s reassurance that there would be no load-shedding of electricity. The situation is especially worse in rural areas, from east to west and north to south, where load-shedding lasts for six hours every day on an average.
Committee members Md Shahiduzzaman Sarkar MP, AKM Shahjahan Kamal MP, Md Abdul Mazid Khan MP and Mir Mostaque Ahmed, among others, attended the meeting. Besides, Secretary to the Power Division and other senior officials of ministry concerned and parliament secretariat were present.
The meeting discussed the “assurances” of providing adequate electricity to every household given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and State Minister Nasrul Hamid on behalf of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in the ninth parliament sessions and in the sessions of the 10th parliament, sources said.
Committee member Mir Mostaque Ahmed said, “We’ve been suffering from acute power crisis where frequent load-shedding is a common scenario in Satkhira region. The JS body expressed severe discontent over the present situation and asked the authorities concerned to take immediate step.”
In the JS body meeting, the Power Division officials informed that West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited through two development projects is now working to install 3822 transformers in Rajbari and its adjacent areas. Of them, 395 transformers have already been installed.
In line with the government’s policy to give house-to house electric connection; about 1crore 95 lakh consumers have been brought under electricity network, the meeting was also informed.
“The rural areas are suffering from severe crisis. The BREB is getting 3,500MW when the demand is for 5,300MW,” Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) Chairman Maj Gen Moin Uddin said.
According to power officials, increased demand for power, disruption in supply due to shortage of transmission lines and towers, maintenance work at power plants and gas crisis are the major reasons of load-shedding in the rural areas.
“Increasing demand for new electricity connections, damaged towers due to floods and storms, maintenance work of some power plants and gas crisis are the major reasons behind the load-shedding,” a senior official of the Power Division preferring to remain anonymous, said.
Sources said faulty installations of some major transmission lines have been disrupting power transmission from the country’s eastern region to the southwestern region. The power supply is also being disrupted in the northern region for the same reasons.
The daily demand for electricity is currently 12,000MW, but the amount of power generated is nearly 8,000MW. But the authorities could supply around 7,500MW to the distribution sub-stations across the country, according to sources.
