The Haor hub of Mohanganj is facing an unprecedented power crisis with residents receiving electricity for barely two hours over a 24-hour period. Power has been limited to sporadic bursts lasting only minutes at a time also plunging both the municipal town and surrounding villages into near-constant darkness.
The relentless outages have caused extreme public distress. Amid sweltering heat, children, the elderly and the sick are suffering immensely. Daily life has ground to a halt the households and mosques face severe water shortages as electric pumps fail to operate and home backup systems (IPS) have completely drained.
The local economy is also taking a massive hit. Businesses are on the verge of shutting down with ice factories, sawmills and automatic rice mills forced to suspend operations.
Authorities attribute the crisis to a severe supply shortfall. Emdadul Haque, Deputy General Manager of the Mohanganj Palli Bidyut Zonal Office explained that while the daily demand for the area’s 53,000 consumers is 16 megawatts (MW) the national grid is currently supplying a mere 3 to 4 MW.
"Because supply falls drastically short of demand and we are compelled to implement severe load-shedding" Haque said also adding that normal supply will resume once the grid stabilizes.
Azharul Islam, General Manager of the Netrokona Palli Bidyut Samity, urged residents to conserve energy, instructing that decorative lights at shops and religious sites be turned off after 10 PM.
Meanwhile, public frustration is boiling over. Residents report sleepless nights on the streets to escape the indoor heat and coupled with the grievance of paying increasingly high electricity bills despite living in the dark.
