Power failure perplexes people
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.
Verdict in Mir Kashem case today
The International Crimes Tribunal 2 is set to deliver verdict in the war crimes case against top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Kashem Ali, known as a key financier of the anti-liberation party, for his alleged crimes against humanity and other offences committed in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War.
Mir Kashem, 62, who was a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha (now Islami Chhatra Shibir), will be produced before the tribunal today – about six months after completion of the trial proceedings.
Why the national power grid collapsed
There are flaws in the setup of the Bheramara power sub-station, as a result when it tripped yesterday, the entire national electricity grid collapsed, sources from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh told the Dhaka Tribune.
Bangladesh began importing power from India in October last year through a 400-kilovolt transmission line that runs from Baharampur in West Bengal to the southwestern Bangladesh town of Bheramara.
Power supply partially restored in city
After the daylong unusual power outage, lights began to back in several parts in the capital from the evening.
DPDC Managing Director Nazrul Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune, in electricity has been restored in almost 40 percent areas in the northern part of the city, including Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi and some parts of old town.
Lights out all over Bangladesh
An unusual power outage has taken over the entire country as the national grid collapsed two times since 11:30am on Saturday.
Power supply was being restored partially across the country from 2:50pm. However, the national grid collapsed again at 4:30pm.
BGB deployed across country
BGB members have been deployed in different places across the country to maintain law and order in the context of Sunday's hartal and Saturday’s power outage.
Mohsin Reza, public relations officer of BGB, told the Dhaka Tribune about the BGB deployment.
Faulty safety gear at BSEC, Amar Desh
The BSEC building in the capital’s Karwan Bazar which caught fire on Friday from the office of the daily Amar Desh and burnt two other private firms on the 10th floor had some faults in its fire fighting system, officials say.
The newspaper office which was burnt completely had inadequate fire fighting equipment, said a fire official after visiting the floor yesterday, on the first day of investigation.
Black day puts spotlight on energy security
The power outage caused by the failure of the national grid has hobbled production at factories, hampered daily life and imperilled patients at different hospitals.
Most hospitals in the capital survived with the power from generators after the national grid went down twice since 11:30am yesterday. Most were rationing their power supply to cover only urgent energy-intensive services such as Intensive Care Units (ICU), Cardiac Care Units (CCU) and emergency rooms. Some were not able to run routine medical tests because of the power failure.
Jamaat’s 2nd phase 48-hr hartal begins today
The second phase of the countrywide 72-hour hartal, called by Jamaat-e-Islami protesting its ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami’s death sentence for his crimes during the Liberation War, begins on Sunday morning.
The 48-hour shutdown begins at 6am on Sunday and will end at 6am on Tuesday.
JMB chief coordinator, 4 activists sent to jail
A Sirajganj court yesterday sent the chief coordinator as well as four members of banned militant outfit Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to jail and fixed a date for the remand hearing of them.
Sirajganj Senior Judicial Judge Kohinur Arjuman passed the order to JMB chief coordinator Md Abdun Nur and “Ehsar” members Nur Islam and Md Nuruzzaman Arif while “Gaery Ehsar” members Abul Kalam Azad and Fauq Ahmed.
Khaleda Zia takes a page out of Sheikh Hasina’s book
In a statement that is reminiscent of what her arch rival Sheikh Hasina has said before, Khaleda Zia has said she does not desire to be the prime minister again; rather she wants to serve the people by “ensuring their voting rights and restoring democracy” in the country.
“I do not desire to become a prime minister. I am doing a movement to save the country, its people and their voting and democratic rights. So, in the last stage of my life, I urge you all to unite and oust the current illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional government,” she said at a rally in Natore yesterday.
Iraqi peshmerga fighters cross into Kobane
Iraqi peshmerga fighters have begun entering the Syrian border town of Kobane where they were expected to join the battle against Islamic State and the Levant (ISIL) fighters beseiging the town.
Peshmerga forces entered through the Yumurtalik crossing on Friday armed with heavy weaponry, including anti-aircraft machine guns and mobile rocket launchers.
