"... bhaate maarbo, paanitay maarbo ... "
~Bonbobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
7th March, 1971.
The dream of Bongobondhu is now being realized.
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Isha Khan <bdmailer@...> wrote:
>
> *Dhaka groans under acute utility crisis - Power, gas, water crises, traffic
> jams test patience of city dwellers, no respite in sight*
>
> *A nagging traffic congestion added to the woes, forcing the city's 13
> million people to pass some of the worst times in their living memories*.
>
>
>
> Life in the capital turned miserable with mercury rising to a boiling point,
> power cuts becoming seemingly never ending and water taps and gas burners
> drying up amid an acute crisis of utilities.A nagging traffic congestion
> added to the woes, forcing the city's 13 million people to pass some of the
> worst times in their living memories.
>
> Officials said a growing demand gap worsened the crisis at the approach of
> summer, as the existing utility infrastructure can meet 60 per cent of the
> capital's power demand, 80 per cent of its water need and some three-fourths
> of gas requirement."Large parts of the city don't have gas, water and power
> supply two-thirds of a day," said a Dhaka City Corporation official.
>
> A massive shortfall of gas first triggered the crisis, with hundreds of
> thousands of cooking burners becoming the first victim followed by power
> generation and water supply."Gas crisis has sharply cut down power output in
> state-owned plants. As a result, the city gets only 60 per cent of its
> actual electricity demand," said a power official."The woes have been
> compounded with the rising of temperature to nearly 40 degree celsius midway
> through this month and diversion of power to the rural areas for boro paddy
> farming," he said.
>
> Everyday since early this month, the Power Development Board has been
> diverting at least 1,000 megawatt of power -- or one-fourth of the country's
> total generation -- to villages to operate pumps for irrigating
> farmland.Rising temeperature also spiked use of fans and air coolers, which
> guzzle more power than any other electronic or electric appliances.
>
> Power crisis coupled with scorching sun also brought the city's water supply
> infrastucture down to its knee, shutting down hundreds of thousands of
> household pumps better parts of the day.
>
> Dhaka Wasa, which supplies running water to the residents, said power crisis
> has also cut lifting of underground water by its 546 deep pumps. "We have
> the daily capacity to supply 1.95 billion litres of water to the capital
> against a demand of 2.20 billion litres," said Taqsem A Khan, its managing
> director.
>
> "But due to the power crisis we cannot ensure maximum supply," he said,
> adding the layer of water in underground aquifers is also going down fast,
> making it hard to lift water at a desired pace. He said hot summer has
> almost dried up rivers that supply 13 per cent of the city's water and the
> lack of rains means the underground aquifers, source of the rest 87 per cent
> water, have not been replenished.
>
> While residents hope that rains in the coming month would ease water crisis
> to a great extent, they see no end to the gas crunch that worsened since
> last winter. "Titas officials had said poor gas pressure was due to the
> winter. But even in hot days, we get gas supply only in the morning and
> evening," said Rubina Alam, a resident of city's Jurain area.
> Officials of Titas, which is the lone supplier of gas in the city, said
> there is no way to escape from the current crisis, as soaring demand has
> outstripped supply by at least 20-30 per cent. "And there is also no
> short-cut remedy as the country has not seen new explorations for years. We
> have to manage the demand with whatever supply we get from our gasfields,"
> said a Titas official, requesting anonymity.
>
> The official said the problem of low gas pressure has now affected all parts
> of the sprawling metropolis . He said Titas has urged the government to shut
> down CNG filling stations throughout the day to offset the crisis. A
> gas-guzzling fertiliser factory is expected to be closed down temporarily to
> divert its supply to the capital, he said, adding: "It is now up to the
> government to make decision as both are tricky issues."
>
> Petrobangla supplies more than 1,960 million cubic feet of natural gas a day
> against the demand of around 2,500 million cubic feet of gas. Demand is
> growing nearly 10 per cent annually due to a booming economy.Traffic jams,
> meanwhile, worsened as record number of cars and buses are hitting the
> capital's narrow lanes every day -- thanks largely to a rapid increase of
> nouveu riches in the country.
>
> The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority said last year around 100 cars,
> microbuses and buses were registered in the capital every day. The
> government has staggered weekly holidays for shops, shopping arcades and
> commercial establishments after dividing the capital into seven zones. It
> also set different office timings for schools and offices.Dhaka Metroplitan
> Police has deployed more law enforcers on to the streets and demarcated the
> main arteries in several lanes as part of a wide ranging moves to manage
> traffic.
>
> But nothing seemed to have worked amid an influx of new cars every day. Lack
> of mass transit system in the ever expanding city has rubbed salt to the
> wounds."People like us who use public transports suffer most as we have to
> wait in queue before a bus arrives," said Ahsan Habib, a private banker.
> "There is no respite even if we board a bus as we endure another round of
> suffering due to the jam."
>
> http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=96286
>
> *People suffer as power, gas, water crisis deepens *
>
> ** <http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/29/img6.html>
>
> Shortage in supply of water has heightened the sufferings of city dwellers
> as the persistent power and gas crises have already plagued life all over
> the country amid increasingly warm weather.
> Frequent power outages are hampering boro cultivation, prompting the
> farmers to go for demonstrations to express their concerns and resentment,
> report New Age district correspondents. Local offices of electricity
> authorities came under attack.
> Students, especially candidates of public examinations, across the
> country cannot continue their study regularly due to electricity crisis.
> Production in the export-oriented garment factories has declined almost
> 30 per cent recently because of the crises of power and gas, said AKM Fazlul
> Hoque, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters
> Association.
> Dwellers of Dhaka city are facing nine to ten hours of power outage daily
> and the crisis of electricity may deepen further in the coming days,
> according to sources in Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd.
> Admitting the water supply crisis the city, the deputy managing director
> of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Liakat Ali, said disruption in
> power supply affected extraction of water at all their 545 water pump
> stations.
> `We can run only 290 water pumps during the load shedding hours with the
> help of generators,' he told New Age, adding that the situation would
> improve as they had planned to bring 120 pumps under dual connections to
> mitigate the people's sufferings during the summer.
> Hundreds of students of Dhaka University on Sunday brought out a
> procession on the campus and laid a siege at the Nilkhet crossing for half
> an hour, demanding uninterrupted supply of electricity at the dormitories.
> `Normal study of my daughter, a candidate of HSC examinations scheduled
> to begin on April 1, is being seriously hampered due to power cut -- nine to
> ten hours a day,' said Abdus Salam, a banker staying in the city's East
> Rajabazar area.
> Farmers of Chirirbandar upazila of Dinajpur put barricade on the highway
> on last Thursday while farmers in Natore laid siege to the local Rural
> Electrification Board office and submitted a memorandum to the authorities
> concerned.
> Farmers in Bogra, Chapainawabganj, Narsingdi, Narail and Kishoreganj too
> brought out processions in and submitted memoranda to the deputy
> commissioners demanding adequate supply of electricity during this peak
> season of Boro.
> Dwellers of Manikanj municipality held demonstrations in the past week
> and demanded uninterrupted supply of utilities — water, power and gas.
> The government's decision to divert 150 megawatt electricity to
> boro-growing areas has not solved the problem of electricity supply in the
> rural Bangladesh, according to reports from New Age correspondents.
> The government has recently decided to impose two-hour load shedding
> after every two hours instead of the previous practice of one-hour load
> shedding to reduce the frequency of power outage in the city.
> However, there are short stretches of load shedding between the two hours
> due to `technical faults', meaning that the city dwellers in some cases have
> to face 12 hours of power outage.
> Residents of Mirpur Senpara, Shewrapara, Mohammadpur, Purba Rajabazar,
> Khilgaon, Basabo, Jatrabari and old parts of Dhaka city are among the worst
> sufferers of acute water crisis coupled with electricity and gas crises.
>
> http://www.newagebd.com/2010/mar/29/front.html
>
> *Public anger rising over enhanced load shedding
> *
>
> Power distributors introduce 2-hour outage every 2 hours
> The 2-hour load shedding after every two hours introduced across the country
> on Saturday has been received with criticism and resentment from different
> sections of power consumers.(UNB) Power distribution agencies-DESCO, DPDC,
> REB, PDB and WZPDC - introduced the system at the behest of the highest
> policy makers replacing load shedding at every alternative hour.
>
> The severe cut in power supply was necessitated as the generation stands at
> 3700-3800 MW against the demand of more than 6000 MW.The power officials
> said they have received complaints and resentment against the new system of
> load shedding. "Now, many peoples are giving their negative reaction to
> two-hour load shedding system. Because, it creates more sufferings to them,"
> said a top official of DPDC which controls electricity distribution in major
> part of the capital city. He said many people use standby generators. They
> now face troubles in running generators for two hours at a stretch. Many
> business houses are to close transactions for long two hours affecting their
> business, he added.
>
> Business people are not taking the new system positively as it leads to more
> hazards. Bangladesh Shop Owners Association Secretary General SA Quader
> Kiron expressed sharp resentment. "Definitely, this is a bad decision as it
> is harmful to the business. This is not acceptable as people are not
> habituated with long two-hour load shedding."
>
> Kiron is worried at reported government plan of complete cut in power supply
> in urban areas from 12 midnight to 6 am. "This will be ridiculous if really
> the government moves in that direction, because after whole day labour and
> frequent load shedding, people want a good sheep after midnight."
>
> FBBCI vice-president Abul Quasem Ahmed said the new load shedding system
> might be a temporary matter. "But we want complete free from load shedding
> situation for the sake of our business." For the last couple of months, many
> areas across the country including the capital, have been facing severe load
> shedding as the gap between the supply and demand of electricity is widening
> fast with the onset of summer.
>
> Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad conveyed the new decision to the top
> officials of the distribution agencies at a meeting at the Power Division on
> Thursday last.Sources close to the meeting told UNB that when they were
> reviewing the situation Azad was summoned to the Prime Minister's Office. He
> was directed to introduce two-hour load shedding at every two hours instead
> of one-hour after every hour.
>
> Azad returned to the meeting and asked them to follow the new directive. He
> however said the new system is temporary for one week to see the public
> reaction."If the people welcome, then it will continue for the rest of the
> time. But if it creates any resentment among the consumers, the decision
> will be reviewed," he told the officials.
>
> The officials were also given the idea that the policy makers feel that load
> shedding in every alternative hour is creating a bad impression among the
> public.
> http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/leading%20news.htm#lead news-01
>
------------------------------------
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