Power cuts add to summer misery

Frequent power cuts or load-shedding in Chandpur district town and rural areas over the past 15 days have made life miserable for ordinary people.The power outages have come at a time when the region is reeling under a prolonged hot spell, adding to the terrible discomfort.People—mostly the aged and babies—are said to be suffering the most, as they are unable to cope with the oppressive heat, accentuated by long spells of power cuts. As a result, various ailments—especially enteric diseases—are spreading, said two eminent doctors Golam Mahbub and Ruhul Amin.Many are suffering from diarrhoea and dysentery because of the hot weather.  
In Chandpur town, where there is little open space remaining because of unplanned urbanisation, people are forced to throng the river banks for some fresh air and to beat the heat.
As a matter of routine, the residents of this town suffer an hour’s load-shedding every alternate hour.Production in mills and factories at Natun Bazar and Purana Bazar has almost come to a halt. The workers are forced to sit idle during the power cuts with machines at a standstill, but the factory owners are obliged to pay them their full wages.
The precarious power situation is also affecting water supply from Chandpur municipality, adding to the suffering of the town people.
Fewer people are venturing out on the streets and traffic is seen to be thinning from noon onwards to avoid the baking heat.
Many students are skipping school and staying at home simply to keep away from the sun, said teachers of Hasan Ali Govt High School, DN High School and LPM Girls’ High School in the district town.
Some people, however, are making hay while the sun shines. Umbrella-sellers and repairers are doing brisk business these days, and so are those who sell cold drinks and juices by the roadsides.
Life in the rural areas of the district’s eight upazilas also appears to have been badly affected by the summer heat aggravated by long stretches of power outages by Palli Biddut.
In Faridganj upazila, Polli Biddut’s Kamta sub-station additional general manager said, “We are unable to supply power for more than three hours a day. We are left with no other means.”
Some villagers like Seraj Patwary of Faridganj, Maksudul Huque and Najmul Islam of Matlab South and Matlab North, Habibur Rahman of Hajiganj, Prof. A Kalam of Shahrasti, Abul Hossain Mia of Kochua and Md Kaoser Mia of Haimchar upazilas complaining they were facing, on an average, 16 to 18 hours of load shedding every day.
Chandpur Palli Biddut Samity general manager Mohammad Yusuf Mia told this correspondent, “We need 94 MW to meet the demands of Chandpur district but we got only 41.5 MW on Wednesday. We have about five lakh consumers in the eight upazilas of the district.”
But added that “this situation is temporary” and was likely to improve soon in the month of Ramadan. “We have made some preparations to meet the increasing demand during this holy month.”
The Chandpur power supply plant, run on gas, is producing around 90 MW of electricity these days, against a capacity of 150 MW. The shortfall has been caused by an acute gas crisis, said sources on condition of anonymity.
The power generated by this plant is added to the national grid as per government rules, they added.
The executive engineer of the Chandpur Power Development Board could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.

 

Power cuts add to summer misery

Frequent power cuts or load-shedding in Chandpur district town and rural areas over the past 15 days have made life miserable for ordinary people.The power outages have come at a time when the region is reeling under a prolonged hot spell, adding to the terrible discomfort.Peoplemostly the aged and babiesare said to be suffering the most, as they are unable to cope with the oppressive heat, accentuated by long spells of power cuts. As a result, various ailmentsespecially enteric diseasesare spreading, said two eminent doctors Golam Mahbub and Ruhul Amin.Many are suffering from diarrhoea and dysentery because of the hot weather. In Chandpur town, where there is little open space remaining because of unplanned urbanisation, people are forced to throng the river banks for some fresh air and to beat the heat. As a matter of routine, the residents of this town suffer an hours load-shedding every alternate hour.Production in mills and factories at Natun Bazar and Purana Bazar has almost come to a halt. The workers are forced to sit idle during the power cuts with machines at a standstill, but the factory owners are obliged to pay them their full wages. The precarious power situation is also affecting water supply from Chandpur municipality, adding to the suffering of the town people. Fewer people are venturing out on the streets and traffic is seen to be thinning from noon onwards to avoid the baking heat. Many students are skipping school and staying at home simply to keep away from the sun, said teachers of Hasan Ali Govt High School, DN High School and LPM Girls High School in the district town. Some people, however, are making hay while the sun shines. Umbrella-sellers and repairers are doing brisk business these days, and so are those who sell cold drinks and juices by the roadsides. Life in the rural areas of the districts eight upazilas also appears to have been badly affected by the summer heat aggravated by long stretches of power outages by Palli Biddut. In Faridganj upazila, Polli Bidduts Kamta sub-station additional general manager said, We are unable to supply power for more than three hours a day. We are left with no other means. Some villagers like Seraj Patwary of Faridganj, Maksudul Huque and Najmul Islam of Matlab South and Matlab North, Habibur Rahman of Hajiganj, Prof. A Kalam of Shahrasti, Abul Hossain Mia of Kochua and Md Kaoser Mia of Haimchar upazilas complaining they were facing, on an average, 16 to 18 hours of load shedding every day. Chandpur Palli Biddut Samity general manager Mohammad Yusuf Mia told this correspondent, We need 94 MW to meet the demands of Chandpur district but we got only 41.5 MW on Wednesday. We have about five lakh consumers in the eight upazilas of the district. But added that this situation is temporary and was likely to improve soon in the month of Ramadan. We have made some preparations to meet the increasing demand during this holy month. The Chandpur power supply plant, run on gas, is producing around 90 MW of electricity these days, against a capacity of 150 MW. The shortfall has been caused by an acute gas crisis, said sources on condition of anonymity. The power generated by this plant is added to the national grid as per government rules, they added. The executive engineer of the Chandpur Power Development Board could not be contacted despite repeated efforts.