Two back-to-back break-downs of the national electricity grid resulted in an unusually long and widespread power outage across the country yesterday.
At 11:28am, lights went out all over the country simultaneously because of the first collapse. Basically, there was no power anywhere in the country for at least an hour after that.
Nationally important establishments such as the president’s official residence Bangabhaban, the prime minister’s residence Ganabhaban, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Jatiya Sangsad have also remained out of power.
Around 1pm, the Mymenshingh area was the first to see some power as a 70MW station in Shombhuganj was made operative. A little later, a 20MW rental power plant in Sylhet was turned on.
Those two enabled partial restoration in a few parts of the country. Supply was restored in some areas of Dhaka as well after some stations in Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria were made operative.
At 2:50pm, the Dhaka Medical College Hospital became the first place in the capital to get back electricity. Gradually, the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Bangabhaban and Ganabhaban got back power gradually.
Slowly, some of the other parts of the capital, especially the important hospitals, started getting back to life.
However, another collapse in the national grid at 4:30pm brought things back to square one, plunging the country into darkness once again. The collapse ocurred when the authorities were trying to repair the problems in the network.
The Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and the Shahjalal International Airport operated under alternative power arrangements for a few hours.
It took the authorities another hour and a half to make the national grid operative again. But, despite repeated attempts to restore electricity supply in the capital, the authorities failed.
Neither the managing director nor any other official of PGCB could give any explanation why they could not bring power back to Dhaka.
Dhaka finally got connected to the power grid again around 9pm and gradually the various parts of the city started lighting up.
Around 11 o’clock last night, PGCB Managing Director Masum Al Beruni told the Dhaka Tribune: “We supply power to a total of nine zones across the country. All these zones are currently getting more or less electricity. At this moment, we are generating 3,700MW. We estimate that the demand will go up to a maximum of 4,500MW in the remaining hours of the night. We are now trying to increase generation to 4,000MW.”
Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) Managing Director Nazrul Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune around 10:45pm yesterday that electricity had been restored in nearly 40% areas of the capital.
Dhaka Electricity Supply Company (Desco) Managing Director Arzad Hossain said: “Some 30% areas of the northern part of the city, including Uttara, Gulshan, Banani, are now getting electricity.”
Rural Electrification Board (REB) Chairman Brig Gen Moinuddin told the Dhaka Tribune around 11:10pm: “All the 72 rural associations under REB have already got power to some extent. They have not got full power as yet, but we will try to ensure that by tonight.”
State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid said in the afternoon: “We are investigating the reason for the power cut. Power supply has been resumed in some areas of the country. We hope that we will be able to restore power around the country gradually.”
In the evening, the state minister and the power secretary went to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office. The PM, who is also in charge of the Power Ministry, gave them instructions to rectify the situation in the soonest possible time.
Yesterday afternoon, the Power Ministry and PGCB formed two separate probe committees to look into the situation.
The ministry’s seven-member committee is headed by its Additional Secretary Ahmed Kaikaus. PGCB’s three-member committee is led by its Executive Director Tapan Kumar Roy.
Meanwhile, power supply was being partially restored for the second time in some areas in Chittagong, Barisal, Comilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet yesterday evening.
“We are rationing electricity to some areas of the city from 6pm,” Md Moniruzzaman, deputy director of Power Development Board (PDB) in Chittagong, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Tariqul Islam, executive engineer of West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC) Barisal office, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Although we successfully resumed power supply on a limited scale around 6pm, but full restoration is yet to be done.”