Long hours of midnight power cuts make Ctg people suffer

Samia Chowdhury, a school teacher residing in Momenbagh Housing Society in Chattogram city, could not sleep the whole night because power was off for more than four hours on Sunday.

"I along with my two children was sweating all night," she told The Business Standard. 

Electricity went out at 11:40 pm and was not back on till 4 am, she said, adding, "I was late at my school the next day."

The load shedding also plagued Abdul Hakim, a microbus driver who lives in Bahaddarhat in the city, from 3 am to 5 am on Sunday night. 

"Currently, we are facing several hours of load shedding in the middle of the night every day. That is why we cannot sleep properly. I have to drive on highways and it is very risky to do so in a sleepy state," he said.

Residents of most areas in Chattogram are experiencing load shedding for several hours per day, including at midnight.

People concerned say they have been compelled to go for extra hours of load shedding owing to a lack of power supply from the national grid.

The Power Development Board (PDB) has announced a rolling of power cuts for one hour to two hours daily from 9 am to 11 pm in each area in Chattogram. 

However, as per the PDB Management and Conservation Circle, Chatto-Metro East Zone, there is a plan for four to five hours of load shedding per day in the four feeders from the Sholoshohor sub-station.

Manowar Hossain, a resident of Chandgaon residential area of the city, told TBS, "Load shedding started at 8 am on Sunday. The power was back after almost seven hours at 3 pm. Electricity went off again at 12 midnight and did not come back before dawn."

Masuda Sultana, a resident of Kulgaon in ​​the city, said, "My children could not sleep at night this week due to extreme hot temperatures and the load shedding. As a result, they could not go to school for four days this week."

The situation in the rural areas of Chattogram is worse, with people facing load shedding for nine to 12 hours a day.

According to sources, PDB Southern Zone controls the power supply in Chattogram city through 12 sales and distribution divisions. Among these, Bakalia, Kalurghat, Motherbari, Patharghata, Sholoshohor and Stadium divisions are managed under Chatt-metro East Circle. 

There is demand for around 260MW of electricity in six sales and distribution divisions under this circle. On Sunday, there was supply of only 60MW electricity in the areas under this circle.

On the other hand, New Mooring, Rampura, Pahartali, Agrabad, Halishahar and Khulshi divisions of this zone are managed under Chatto-metro West Circle. There is demand for more than 310MW of electricity in the six sales and distribution divisions under this circle. On Sunday, there was a rationing of only 40MW of electricity in the areas under this circle.

Consumers complained that 25 feeders under Muradpur and Kalurghat distribution centres of Chatto-Metro East Circle faced load shedding for more than 12 hours on Sunday. In Chatto-Metro West Circle, consumers complained of nine hours of load shedding on the same day.

Ashok Chowdhury, supervising engineer of PDB Management and Conservation Circle, Chatto-Metro East, said, "Three to four hours of load shedding have been scheduled for 450 feeders, excluding the industrial areas. But due to problems in the national grid, we have been facing problems in maintaining the schedule."

Md Rezaul Karim, chief engineer of PDB South Zone, told The Business Standard, "The demand for electricity in Chattogram is 1400MW. But we are getting only 680MW. That is why we are failing to maintain load shedding as per the schedule."

He added, "Load shedding for one hour does not mean that there will be a power outage for only one hour in the whole day. It means that there will be no outage for more than one hour at a time. But it could happen several times per day."

The Power Division and the Ministry of Power Energy and Mineral Resources, however, said there has been no such decision of load shedding for multiple times, each lasting an hour.

Mohammad Hossain, director general at Power Cell, a policy formation unit of the Power Division, said, "The decision that we have taken is that there will be one or two hours of power outage in a single day." 

He, however, admitted that it has been noticed that load shedding happened more than twice a day in some places.