Bangladesh News

Frequent power outages, over four hours a day, amid hot and humid conditions have made the life of city people miserable.

Residents alleged that erratic electricity supply is hampering their daily activities and the situation is becoming unbearable day by day although the scorching days of summer are yet to come.

They said they are experiencing one to three-hour long power cuts, in cases four to five times a day on an average. Power outages are taking place in unusual time and they have never witnessed such thing, they added.

“In our area, power does not go off rather it comes sometimes,” Abu Sayeed, a resident of Pirer Bagh of Mirpur area, lamented when asked about the power situation in his area.

“Although we are pretty much used to the load-shedding, things have become utterly intolerable in the past few days or so. Power went off at 12:30am Sunday night and remained off for about an hour,” he said, adding that it went out again at 7:00 in the morning.

Kabir Ahmed, a resident of East Razabazar, alleged that there was no power for over five hours starting from 11:00am on Sunday, hampering their day-to-day activities severely. Yesterday’s situation was also bad as power remained off for two to three hours each time at both day and night, he adds.

“We are already facing power cuts every day. God knows what will happen during the upcoming summer,” he said.

Shamima Nasrin, another resident of Kakrail, said power is going out every few hours especially at daytime. “Power cuts occur at least two times with a duration of one to one and a half hours each after the sun sets. It has become a routine,” she said.

The examinees of ongoing secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations are the worst suffers of the crisis.

“The situation is just becoming unbearable. I cannot concentrate on my studies due to frequent power outages after the evening. I am really worried about my results as my preparation hampers seriously,” said an SSC examinee of Malibagh area.

Many worried parents of the SSC examinees have demanded immediate solution to the load shedding. “We want uninterrupted electricity after the evening for at least a few more days during the examination period,” a parent said.

Residents of Farmgate, Mirpur, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, Moghbazar, Malibagh, Shahbagh, Mohammadpur, Rampura, Goran, Khilgaon, Shahjahanpur, Uttara and other places in the capital are also experiencing frequent power cuts lasting more than an hour.

The erratic electricity supply is hampering production in factories as well as office work. Mechanical engineering shops, computer-compose centres, laundry, motor workshops, and CNG refuelling stations are the worst victims of power outages.