Minister terms power situation a ‘national crisis’, urges patience

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood on Sunday dubbed the ongoing power situation in the country a “national crisis”, urging all members of parliament and ordinary citizens to remain patient and face the challenge collectively.

The statement comes at a time when protests have erupted in different parts of the country, with demonstrators demanding an uninterrupted power supply to households and businesses.

While speaking under Rule 300 in the Jatiya Sangsad, Iqbal Hassan said technical malfunctions at a major power plant and the disruption in coal unloading due to rough weather in the Bay of Bengal have slashed nearly 3,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the national grid.

He explained that one power plant had to undergo an emergency “forced shutdown” after a leak was detected in its boiler tube. Meanwhile, rough seas have halted coal unloading operations at a major coal-fired power plant, forcing one of its primary units to go offline.

“The national transmission system has lost nearly 3,000MW of power due to these two unforeseen factors. As a result, we have had to implement load-shedding across different parts of the country, and Dhaka will also experience power cuts.” 

The minister further shared that he discussed the ongoing situation with Leader of the Opposition Shafiqur Rahman. 

He, however, expressed hope that the situation would improve within the next two days. 

“Once power generation normalises, the extent of load-shedding will be significantly reduced,” Iqbal added.