The government talks about load shedding for one hour a day in every area across the country but in reality it is happening for 9 hours a day in some places. In the new schedule of load shedding, there is no load shedding less than three hours a day
The Electricity Development Board has given a fresh explanation to Deutsche Welle for one hour a day of load shedding They say, one hour is not load shedding in whole day When load shedding is done, it will be done for a maximum of one hour continuously It can happen multiple times a day
This rationing of electricity started from July 19 It was then said that load shedding will be done one hour in 24 hours for the first seven days After understanding the situation, two hours can be done No formal announcement of load shedding for two hours or more during the week end of July 25
Read more: Bangladesh Power crisis- Can load shedding solve the power situation?
But in the load shedding schedule published by the power distribution companies on July 26, load shedding is being done from a minimum of three hours to a maximum of nine hours. The situation is worst in Sylhet region There is no load shedding less than four hours anywhere in Sylhet Maximum nine hours there
In the schedule given by Desco in Dhaka, the minimum load shedding is three hours and the maximum is four hours However, one more distribution authority of Dhaka, DPDC, has given the schedule of load shedding within one hour However, their website has written, ‘There is no load shedding at the moment.’
‘West Zone Power Company’ is not releasing the new schedule of load shedding However, in the old schedule two to three hours of load shedding has been mentioned in Jessore and Khulna areas. Nesco is talking about load shedding in Rajshahi and Rangpur region for an hour
PDB directly distributes electricity to areas in Chittagong, Comilla, Mymonsingh and parts of Sylhet The list of load shedding from minimum two hours to maximum six hours has been given in those areas Sylhet Osmani Airport itself is loadshedding for six hours However, in the schedule that they published from 25 to 27 July, it is said that maximum 9 hours of load shedding in various areas including Miyapara, Mendibagh of Sylhet. Minimum 8 hours
Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board is the largest consumer of electricity in Bangladesh They provide electricity at upazila level and rural areas They list load shedding from a minimum of three hours to a maximum of six hours But in reality it is not accepted
Manowar Jahan, a resident of Sylhet, said that the electricity schedule is not being accepted Now there is no electricity for hour after hour To say that there is no electricity for 9-10 hours a day And the condition of village electricity in rural areas was already bad Now worse Somewhere there is no electricity for 12-13 hours
Sylhet Division Chief Engineer Abdul Qadir said, ‘Today (Tuesday) electricity demand in Sylhet Division is 550 MW. A little more than half of the demand was found to be 270 MW As the weather is a bit better today, we are able to stick to the schedule However, if the weather is not favorable, the schedule is sometimes not met He said, “We have to do load shedding for a maximum of 9 hours. Load shedding is not more than that.”
Liaquat Ali Badal, a resident of Rangpur, said, “The schedule is not being followed here.” After an hour the power went out Electricity is available from 11 pm to morning Electricity is not good during the day The condition of the village is worse.’ Shahadat Hossain, Chief Engineer of Power Development Board of Rangpur Division, said, ‘The demand for electricity in the division is 700 megawatts per day. I am getting 550 MW As a result, it is difficult to adhere to the schedule.’
He said, ‘There is a shortage of 30 megawatts of electricity if there is load shedding for so many hours a day But my deficit is 150 MW So more loadshedding is being done.’ In response to another question, he said, ‘We have been instructed to do load shedding in one hour, not one hour in the whole day. So I do load shedding for an hour every day.’
According to the Electricity Development Board, the electricity demand across the country is 13 thousand 850 MW on Tuesday But the potential generation is 11,810 MW There is a shortfall of 2,040 MW At the beginning of power rationing, it was said that 13,000 MW of electricity would be available per day He is now getting 1,190 megawatts less than that Board director Shamim Hasan said, ‘We are unable to produce electricity as per demand due to lack of raw materials, we are distributing it by load shedding as much as we can.’ In his words, ‘production is less likely to decrease May increase We will assess the situation tomorrow (Wednesday) and take further decisions
On the question of one hour load shedding in a day, he said, not one hour in the whole 24 hours, when load shedding is done in an area, it is done for one hour. So there may be loadshedding for two-three hours at a time without tension in any area
(Special note: The report is taken from Deutsche Welle. That report is quoted. No representative of Hindustan Times Bengal wrote this report.)