Roundup: Bangladeshi gov’t is in trouble with power shortage
People’s Daily Online
The Bangladeshi government is in trouble with power shortage that is creating public anger across the country ahead of the general elections due in January next year.
Power supply is bad in the country and observers fear that it might create series of protests and the country has already witnessed explosions in the capital Dhaka and western Bangladesh, that left 20 people killed and hundreds wounded
The country needs around 5,000 MW of electricity everyday, but the country has shortage of power between 1,200 to 1,800 MW daily and the authorities are doing load-shedding throughout the country.
In the capital, almost all the areas including the diplomatic enclaves are witnessing load-shedding of power more than once a day in this day of summer heat wave.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia on Sunday removed the State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood who is replaced by State Minister for Finance and Planning Anwarul Kabir Talukder.
The power situation is so worse that Iqbal Hassan Mahmood a few days ago asked people to reduce television watching practice to save power during the pick hours in the evening.
Sources in the top level of the government said Prime Minister Zia took the decision to remove Iqbal in the context of public outcry for power.
In order to keep people cool, the government is diverting power from rural Bangladesh, which is keeping most of the rural areas in blackout at night.
But still then the government is failing to provide power to people in the capital Dhaka all time. In some areas of Dhaka, power is supplied only for a few hours and most of the time the areas remain without power supply.
Due to shortage of power supply, people cannot get water for their everyday use. People of Shanir Akhra in the southeastern part of Dhaka city exploded and blocked the country’s main highway early this month. Men and women in thousands jointed protests blocking the highway that created traffic jam along 15 km long of road.
The angry people chased a local member of parliament and beat him when he came to tame the angry people. Police also failed to stop the angry people.
They returned home after the government assured them of solving their problem of power and water supply shortly.
People of the area again last week threatened to agitate again as their problems were not resolved.
In Kansat of western Chapainawabganj district, people demanding smooth power supply have agitated since January this year and exploded last month. They attacked the rural power supply office and police being failing to quell them opened fire on them, which left 20 people killed since January this year.
Iqbal Hassan Mahmood recently said the power supply situation will not see any change even next year.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders said, due to power shortage, production of garments will fall by 50 percent. Garment is the number one export sector earning around 4 billion US dollars, accounting for around 70 percent of the country’s export earnings.
Agriculture experts said the main rice crop has suffered badly this time as farmers could not irrigate farmland as required.
Source: Xinhua
