Power crisis has intensified in the six upazilas of the district in recent times, as authorities failed to keep up with the burgeoning demand for power and keep power units on full throttle.
A number of mills, factories and businesses had closed down their operations, while many are limping along, because of power shortage and hike of diesel price leading to joblessness of thousands. Apart from industrial power consumers, household users are also getting affected because of the shortage.
The situation was aggravated when two units out of the six at Ghorashal Power Plant were closed more than a year ago – one after a fire incident and the other for remodelling purposes.
Despite repeated urgings from consumers, authorities in the Power Development Board could not repair and get the two outfits up and running, and improve the power situation in the district.
The total demand for power in the district is 110 megawatt, but only 30 is supplied currently. Narsingdi town alone has a demand for 32mw, of which 10 is supplied. On average, power remains out for 11-12 hours a day.
Ibrahim Mia, a businessman from Chowala in Narsingdi town, said the entire power-loom sector, spinning and textile mills have been facing difficulty because of disruption in power supply. Power pumps cannot be operated and even emergency surgeries in hospitals have to be suspended because of this reason.
Abdul Jabbar, a small-scale entrepreneur in Hazipur village, said, “I bought a power-loom factory with 25 machines. But most of the time I cannot run them because of the outage problem.”
Power crisis has been at its worst in Narsingdi town, Ghorashal Industrial town and Madhabdi Industrial town. There are an estimated 1,500 industrial consumers in the district’s six upazilas, as well as hundreds of unlisted ones.
Businessmen are also suffering from the increased price of diesel, necessary to keep alternative sources such as power pumps and generators functional. As a result, business centres and shopping malls are often seen putting up the shutters before scheduled time.
General Manager of Narsingdi Palli Bidyut 2, Rabiul Hasan said, “We have to supply electricity interchangeably because we don’t get enough from the national grid. Inadequate supply of power makes our job of distribution difficult.”
On the individual level, power crisis has reportedly led to joblessness of thousands of workers, who lost their means of livelihood with the closure of various medium- and small-size business ventures over the years.