Total Fashion Limited, a dyeing factory in the Keodhala area of Bandar upazila in Narayanganj, had no electricity for about five hours in the 24 hours from Saturday noon to Sunday noon. Due to load shedding, the factory’s production has decreased, and as it is failing to meet its production target, the company is facing losses.
Administrative officer of the factory, Kabirul Islam, told Prothom Alo that production is being disrupted due to load shedding. The required diesel is also not available to cope with load shedding. Due to shortages of electricity and gas, production at the factory has dropped from 10 tonnes to 2 tonnes.
Among the five upazilas of Narayanganj, Bandar, Sonargaon, Araihazar, and Rupganj receive electricity from Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-1 and Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-2.
While the daily demand of Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-1 is 400 megawatts, it is receiving 30 to 40 per cent less. On the other hand, against a demand of 200 megawatts, Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-2 is receiving 140 megawatts. Due to insufficient supply, load shedding is being carried out to manage the deficit.
Like Narayanganj, severe load shedding has also hit the areas under the Palli Bidyut Samity in Gazipur. In areas outside the city, electricity is unavailable for 7 to 8 hours a day and night. Amid load shedding, people’s lives have become miserable due to the intense heat.
Narayanganj: ‘2 hours of load shedding once power goes out’
Due to supply being lower than demand, areas under Palli Bidyut Samity in Narayanganj experience load shedding of one to two hours once the power goes out. In some places, the duration is even longer. As a result, along with industrial production, irrigation activities in agricultural lands during the Boro season are being disrupted.
At Bashar Papers Limited factory in the Malibagh area of Bandar, 15 tonnes of carton paper are produced daily. However, due to load shedding, production has decreased to 8 to 9 tonnes.
The factory’s manager, Golam Mostafa, told Prothom Alo that there is 5 to 6 hours of load shedding daily. Once the power is cut, it remains unavailable for one to two hours. As a result, production has dropped to half. Although production could continue using generators, diesel shortages are making that difficult.
When asked, Senior General Manager of Narayanganj Palli Bidyut Samity-1, Sheikh Mohammad Ali, told Prothom Alo that 25 to 30 per cent load shedding is being carried out daily. Due to inadequate supply compared to demand, load shedding is necessary to manage the deficit.
Meanwhile, business owners have complained that production in various industrial establishments in the Panchabati BSCIC industrial area of Narayanganj is being disrupted due to load shedding. The area falls under the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), Narayanganj.
However, according to the company’s data, their daily electricity demand in Narayanganj is 509 megawatts, and they are supplying the full demand.
President of the Bangladesh Knitting Owners Association, Selim Sarwar, told Prothom Alo that production is being disrupted due to load shedding. Without electricity, diesel is also not available at filling stations for generators and for transporting goods.
Superintending Engineer of DPDC, Kamal Hossain, told Prothom Alo that electricity is being supplied as per demand and there is no load shedding anywhere.
He claimed that in some cases, temporary disruptions may occur due to maintenance and technical issues, but that is not load shedding.
Gazipur: ‘On average 7 hours of load shedding’
Azizul Haque, owner of Ammazan Hotel and Restaurant on Kunia Gacha Road in Gazipur city, said that load shedding has increased along with rising temperatures over the past few days.
He opens the hotel at dawn and closes it at 11:00 pm. During this time, electricity goes on and off at least six to seven times.
Sakhina Begum, a homemaker from Lakshmipura area near the town, said that on Saturday evening, just as she sat down with her son to study, the electricity went out. When the fan stops, it becomes difficult to endure the heat. Although electricity returned after about an hour and fifteen minutes, it went out again shortly after. This happened several times throughout the night, disrupting normal life.
While load shedding is comparatively lower in Gazipur city, residents say that in areas outside the city under Palli Bidyut Samity-1, electricity is unavailable for 7 to 8 hours day and night. This association supplies electricity not only to Gazipur city but also to Kaliakoir, Sreepur, Kaliganj, and Kapasia upazilas.
According to sources from the Palli Bidyut Samity, the total electricity demand of Gazipur Palli Bidyut Samity-1 is 484 megawatts, while the supply is 312 megawatts. The deficit of 172 megawatts is forcing load shedding. On the other hand, in areas under Samity-2, against a demand of 140 megawatts, load shedding is 50 megawatts.
In the Sreepur and Maona regions under Mymensingh Palli Bidyut Samity-2, against a demand of 150 megawatts, the supply is 80 to 100 megawatts. On the other hand, in Kaliakoir upazila under Dhaka Palli Bidyut Samity-1, the demand is 200 megawatts, while the supply is 120 megawatts. In this area, which has more than 400 industrial factories, there is 7 to 8 hours of load shedding daily.
Farmer Anwar Hossain from Khirati village of Ghagtia union in Kapasia said, “As the heat increases, the electricity situation has worsened. From 12 noon on Saturday, there was no power for two to three hours continuously. Even after it returned briefly, there was no electricity again from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Within 12 hours, we didn’t get proper electricity for even 7–8 hours. We cannot irrigate our fields properly due to lack of electricity.”
In the Parliament on Sunday, Gazipur-4 constituency MP Md Salahuddin Aiyubi said that there is 10 to 12 hours of load shedding in Kapasia. This is disrupting students’ studies, causing suffering for patients in hospitals, and severely affecting irrigation systems. If the problem is not resolved quickly, the situation will worsen further.
General Manager of Gazipur Palli Bidyut, Md Abul Bashar Azad, told Prothom Alo that the electricity demand in areas under Gazipur Palli Bidyut Samity is 484 megawatts, and due to not receiving supply as required, more load shedding has to be implemented.
He said they have been instructed centrally to “ask customers to be patient, as the electricity situation will improve very soon.”