Life has become virtually unbearable in the port city and other parts of the region while industrial production has also significantly fallen due to frequent load shedding over the last few days.
People from different parts of the city, including Agrabad, Halishahar, Pahartoli, Bakalia, Nasirabad, Patharghata, Mehedibug, Alkaran, Patharghata, Chawkbazar, Patenga and Chandgaon, said that they have been facing power outages seven to eight times a day over the last few days.
Sultana Jaman, a housewife of the Mehedibug area of the city, said food items stored in the refrigerator keep getting spoiled due to repeated power failure, adding that they could even not sleep at night due to the scorching heat.
“The studies of my two children is being hampered severely due to the frequent power outages,” she added.
Ismat Ara Mukta, a physician residing in the Panchlaish area, said her children could not sleep at night, as the IPS could not charge due to frequent power outages, she said.
Nasiruddin Chowdhury, acting president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said their production is being severely hampered and many of the exporters will miss their deadlines if the situation continues.
“Apart from hampering production, frequent power failure is also damaging factory machinery,” he said, adding that it was necessary to develop a coordinated load management system to maintain smooth production at mills and factories.
Power Development Board (PDB) sources said they were supplying 400 megawatts (MW) of power against the daily demand of 600MW to 650MW, adding that it had been causing a load shedding of 200 MW to 250 MW of power in the recent period.
Mohammed Moniruzzaman, an Additional Director at the Chittagong region of PDB, said production at the Shikalbaha 60MW and 150MW picking power plants had remained suspended due to the gas crisis.
He also said production at the Kaptai hydroelectric project has also been reduced by 100MW as a unit remained inoperative due to a shortfall in water level, adding that power generation had been reduced by 310MW due to the closure of three units at Shikalbaha and Kaptai.