People at different places in the country, including the capital Dhaka, on Thursday staged demonstrations asking the government to ease the power and water supply situation immediately.
The agitated people across the country also threatened movement if the government failed to ease the crisis of water, electricity and gas.
In the capital's Badda and Adabar areas, several hundred people staged demonstration and blocked traffic to vent their anger at the frequent power outages and severe water crisis. In Badda, people took to the streets and put barricades on the Kuril-Biswa Road halting traffic for about 30 minutes, causing tailback in the area. The situation eased after the protesters dispersed.
Assistant police commissioner of Gulshan zone Nurul Alam told New Age, 'Several hundred people of Madhya-Badda area blocked the road for power and water, causing disruption of traffic.'
Locals in Adabar area staged demonstrations and laid a siege to the water pump house demanding uninterrupted water, power and gas supply.
The local unit of the Communist Party of Bangladesh organised the protest.
Speakers at the protest rally said that when law and order was deteriorating day by day, the government was failing to supply water, power and gas causing enormous sufferings to the city dwellers.
They warned government of a tougher movement if it could not ensure water, power and gas supply immediately.
In Chapainawabganj town, Bangladesh Krishak League brought out a procession demanding uninterrupted power supply.
The protester also held a rally and submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner demanding uninterrupted power supply for irrigation.
Farmers of the area are getting electricity only for 3-4 hours a day although the prime minister pledged uninterrupted power supply from 11:00pm to 6:00am. They also criticised the state minister for power for his failure to ease the situation.
District unit of Krishak League joint convener Musfiqur Rahman Tito, president of its sadar upazila unit Maraful Islam Azizi, secretary Nurul Islam and others spoke at the rally. They warned the government of a tougher movement if the water and power crisis was not resolved.
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/26/front.html
Meanwhile, city dwellers and people in different districts took to streets and staged demonstrations giving an indication of bigger unrest.
The party in power is concerned as public dissatisfaction might take a political turn if the opposition fans agitation. The Government having many of its political agenda, including the war crime tribunal and restriction on religious parties, needs to give more attention to public sufferings.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has been going for load shedding in every alternative hour during the last couple of days resulting in a power outage for about 12 to16 hours daily.
Production hampered
The major concern is in the industrial sector where production is being critically hampered due to shortage of power and gas. The crisis is posing a threat to the very existence of the export-oriented industries and to the overall economy. Stakeholders say, frequent power cut is hampering productions. The machines are also going out of order frequently putting additional financial burden on the enterprises.
In this power crisis situation, many of the factory owners are forced to run their enterprises by furnace oil and diesel-run generators which further increased the production cost making the business nonviable. The export earnings from RMG sector would be severely affected, fear entrepreneurs.
He said textile industries need 2,000 MW power per day but now it is getting only 1,200 to 1,400 MW power which is 40 per cent less than the demand.
Meanwhile, the Energy Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Wednesday directed the Petrobangla to allocate more gas to the power sector to help reduce the frequent power outage and keep the load-shedding within a tolerable level.
It also asked the Petrobangla officials to work on gas crisis issue or explore ways to stop misuse of gas to further accelerate power generation in the country.
Admitting persisting electricity crisis across the country, State Minister for Power and Energy Brig Gen (Retd) Mohammed Enamul Huq said that the government is planning to supply additional gas to power plants through rationing system. Rationing of gas supply, on a priority basis, is the only option to meet the demand of electricity across the country.
?We have huge gas shortage against the demand. For this, gas-fired power plants are not getting required gas,? he told reporters after a meeting on gas supply in power plants.
Gas-run powerhouses
Referring to the nagging power crisis across the country, PDB Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir told the meeting that due to gas shortage they could not produce another 600 MW to 700 MW of additional electricity. Besides, a number of power plants cannot come into operation due to gas shortage, he said.
Due to huge demand in irrigation, PDB needs to produce an additional 2,100 MW electricity, while the country?s 80 per cent power plants are run by gas, officials said.
Energy Adviser to the PM Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, secretaries of both power and energy divisions, and Pertobangla officials, among others, attended the meeting.
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