Kushtia: Production of rice at Khazanagar, the second largest wholesale market of rice in the country, has been hampered due to frequent load shedding, reports UNB.
The mill owners feared that if the situation would not come to normalcy within a few days, then the production and supply of rice will be suspended which may cause sharp rise in rice price.
Zainul Abedin, general secretary of Kushita Auto Major and Husking Mill Onwers' Association, said it is the peak time for producing rice and during the time the rice mills in Khazanagar area remain operative with the rice production. But the production and supply of the rice in the area have fallen into half in comparison with the previous years due to erratic power supply."If the situation continues, the price of rice may go up due to shortage of its supply to the markets", he said.Abdul Khalek, owner of Desh Agro Food, said "For the last couple days, I failed to supply rice to the market while I was able to send five rice-laden trucks to different districts from my mills per day. Hardly, we get power for one hour and when the power is gone we have no idea when it will come back."Besides, technical glitches are found at the machineries following the irregular load shedding.
Talking to some mill workers, they alleged that most of the time they are jobless. As a result, they are earning little money, causing sufferings to livelihood.Mafiz Uddin, owner of Four Star Rice Mill, urged the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to make the rice market stable.When contacted, Arifur Rahman, executive engineer of West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL), Kushita, said there are 62,901 power consumers in the district town with a demand of 40 megawatt everyday but the supply of electricity is only 20 megawatt that is the reason behind the frequent load shedding.