State minister faces wrath of opposition MPs for power outage

Dhaka, June 6 -- Opposition lawmakers came down heavily on State Minister Nasrul Hamid Bipu for the ongoing power outage.

Addressing the parliament during the discussion on cut motion tabled by the state minister, they observed that the power ministry failed to manage the power situation properly.

JP lawmaker Fakhrul Imam said that though the demand for power is 16000MW, generation capacity was raised to 26 thousand megawatts which caused a huge financial loss for the country.

JP lawmaker Kazi Feroz Rashid said that few days ago there was no load shedding in villages but all on a sudden there is no power there when there is scorching heat.

Where has the power gone? He asked adding that there was lack of coordination among the officials of power ministry.

They should stock sufficient amount of coals and diesel to avert the crisis, he said.

He also noted that though the senior bureaucrats are enjoying the comfort of non-stop air-conditioners, the people of the villages are suffering from severe heatwave.

JP leader Rawshan Ershad said that the government should take steps for further gas exploration.

In response the state minister for power said that the entire world is facing energy crisis due to the Ukraine war.

The dollar prices shot up and energy becomes unavailable, he said adding that even coal and gas could not be procured even offering money as everybody is hankering after energy, he said.

"We have forgot that there was load shedding across the country for 16 to 18 hours before the assumption of this government to power," he said mentioning that the present government has raised the power generation capacity manifold.

He told the JS that the situation would be normalised within 15 to 16 days as the shipment of coal will arrive in the country by this time.

Earlier on Monday night, blaming the ongoing heatwave for amplifying the power crisis, state minister for power Nasrul Hamid in his Facebook post urged all to cooperate with the government by refraining from misuse of power.

The state minister explain that due to the scorching heat the use of air coolers and fans is risen manifold jacking up the overall demand for power.

He also pointed out that as on June 3 the country's power production was 13,635MW.

"Imagine what could be happened if the production was only 3000MW like in the BNP regime?" the state minister asked adding that the government is taking all-out effort to bring back normalcy in the power situation.

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