People block road in Habiganj protesting excessive load shedding

People in Habiganj held a human chain and blocked the road in front of deputy commissioner’s office protesting excessive load shedding in the district.

The protest was held under a banner of ‘Amra Habiganjbashi’ at the main street of the district at 1:00pm on Thursday. Students of different educational institutes and people from all walks of life took part in the rally, halting traffic movement for over half an hour.

Later, officials of the power division and police assured the protesters of taking measures and urged them to suspend the programme.

The protesters said residents of Habiganj town are experiencing up to 15 to 16 hours of load shedding and the electricity situation in rural areas are even worse while 1200 megawatt electricity is being supplied to the national grid from Habiganj.

They complained that the adjacent districts see only two to three hours of load shedding.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon’s (BAPA) Habiganj chapter secretary Tofazzal Hossain, former secretary of Habiganj district unit Chhatra Union Masuda Khan and district BASAD’s coordinator Safiqul Islam, among others, spoke at the protest rally.

During the protest, a team of Habiganj Sadar police station went to the spot. At one point of trying to clear the road, policemen locked into an altercation with the protesters.  Later, Habiganj power division’s assistant engineer Raqibul Hasan went to pacify the protesters.

He said while the daily demand of power in Habiganj town is 19MW, it receives only 7MW.

He requested all to be more economical in electricity usage.

Later the protesters cleared the street at the request of high officials of police and power division.