Power outage plunges parts of Bangladesh into darkness

Staff Reporter :
People from all walks of life, especially patients in different hospitals, elderly people and children, have suffered heavily as the country’s central and southeastern regions-including capital city Dhaka, Mymensingh, Chattogram, Khulna and Sylhet divisions-plunged into darkness following a massive blackout due to failure of the national grid.
Power supply to the country’s central and southeastern region, came to a halt at around 1:30pm on Tuesday.
However, the power supply has been restored in some areas of Dhaka and some other areas of the country gradually following a power outage due to a fault in transmission lines of the national grid.
The power supply was restored partially in some areas of Gulshan, Baridhara, Uttara and Mirpur areas after 6pm, while the power supply returned to the Bangabhaban and Motijheel areas at 7:30pm nearly after five hours.  
According to Managing Director of Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) Amir Qausar Ali, power supply will become normal across the country by Tuesday night.
The Ministry of Power and Mineral Resources have expressed their deep sorrow over the disruption of power supply.
Power was being restored in Tangail, Mymensingh, Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Chattogram, Sylhet and Manikganj till filing the report at 8pm last night.
Meanwhile, Deputy Manger of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) ABM Badrudoza Khan said that a five-member probe committee was formed to investigate the national grid failure.
However, most of the hospitals and clinics continued their services by generators. But diagnostic tests were not possible. Besides, many patients failed to enter operation theatre for surgical operations including Dhaka Medical College and Hospital too for the national grid failure.
Multiple sources said that the authority concerned failed to identify the reason of massive collapse of power immediate after the national grid failure.
The ministry will form two probe committees to investigate the national grid failure incident.
Meanwhile, Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) released a statement saying that telecommunication services faced disruptions for a while in some parts of the country due to the power grid failure.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the trouble in the eastern region has already been solved, but power supply will be normalised within the shortest time.
Earlier, he said that the officials of the department concerned were trying to bring the power supply normal.
“A large portion of the country has been without power since noon due to a disruption in the national grid. Efforts are being made to normalise the situation by the evening and it would take some time to fix the national grid,” he said.
It may take at least three hours to restore the power supply, the State Minister said adding “We are trying to recover situation normal by the evening. At least we will start supplying electricity to the sensitive areas including the KPI. Two investigation committees will be formed in this incident.”
Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO) Managing Director (MD) Md Kausar Ameer Ali confirmed the matter to The New Nation on Tuesday noon.
“We are coordinating with the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the operational body of the national grid, to get things fixed,” he said.
According to AMTOB, “Due to national power grid failure, telecommunication services were disrupted in some parts of the country. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, when contacted, PGCB Spokesperson ABM Badruddoza Khan said, “Efforts are underway to get power supply back as soon as possible.”
However, none could confirm the exact reason behind the sudden power failure.
When contacted, Bangladesh Power Development Board’s (BPDB) Southern Region Chief Engineer Rezaul Karim told this correspondent that Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Cumilla have been entirely blacked out due to a failure in the national grid’s eastern part.
Rezaul Karim said that all units of BPDB southern region are busy trying to restore connectivity as they are yet to know the reason behind the power failure.
Chief Engineer of Power Development Board’s Sylhet region Abdul Qadir said power production in all power plants was stopped due to the failure.
He said, “It cannot be determined yet when the situation will be normal. But it will take some time.”
According to the Facebook page of Sales and Distribution Division-4 of BPDB, the black-out occurred due to under frequency at 2:02pm.
The normalisation of this power situation will take considerable time and national grid and power plant workers are working to normalise the situation after the connection fully made, read the Facebook post.
The last incident of grid failure happened in 32 districts on May 2, 2017.
Besides, on November 1, 2014, the entire country experienced a blackout at 11:27 pm.
There was no electricity in the whole country for 12 hours.