On Thursday morning over a hundred frustrated residents in Baghaichhari Rangamati surrounded the local electricity office to protest prolonged power outages alleged bribery and poor customer service.
The unrest stems from a broken transformer in Baghaichhari Municipality’s Ward 7 which has left more than a hundred families without electricity for nearly two months. Protesters alleged that Resident Engineer Shugat Chakma demanded Tk 80,000 to supply a new transformer. Despite residents pooling and handing over Tk 25,000 power has not been restored.
Aggrieved consumers raised further complaints against the resident engineer, accusing him of frequent workplace absenteeism ignoring phone calls, and generating inflated electricity bills without recording actual meter readings.
Police eventually arrived at the scene to mediate and bring the situation under control.
Addressing the allegations Engineer Shugat Chakma cited severe manpower shortages and the high transportation costs required to bring a replacement transformer from the district headquarters. He also pointed to internal disagreements among locals that complicated the repair process.
The protest was called off and the situation returned to normal after the resident engineer formally assured the crowd that a new transformer would be installed and power restored by the following Sunday.
