Our Correspondent :
About two million people were left without power overnight after fire broke out in Kumargaon 150 MW power station of Sylhet Sadar upazila on Tuesday morning.
The fire swept through the power station around 11am, said Shawkat Ali Joardar of the local fire service office.
He said seven units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot after receiving information of the fire. The firefighters managed to extinguish the fire around 12:45pm but a firefighter named Jayanta Kumar became injured.
Power supply was stopped to Sylhet district after the incident.
Two transformers were burnt in the fire, said Mokammel Hossain, Chief Engineer of the Development and Distribution Department of the Rural Electrification Board in Sylhet. “The fire has affected a transmission line to the national grid, which disrupted power supply,” he said.
He said about two million clients in the district are experiencing an extended power outage due to the fire at the substation. “We apologize to them for the inconvenience. Our crews are on scene working to restore power supply as quickly as possible,” he added.
When asked, said Mokammel Hossain, “It’s not yet known what caused the fire.” However, he said that the fire had caused “considerable damage” to the substation.
After visiting the spot, Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet Kazi M Emdadul Islam said a probe body would be formed to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, Director (Public Relations) of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Saiful Hasan Chowdhury, said: “It may take another five to six hours for the power supply to go back to normal in Sylhet.”
“We are trying to overcome the situation. We were able to resume power supply in some areas of the district. However, it is taking a bit longer to restore power supply in Sylhet city,” he added.
