Power shortage hampers irrigation in Nilphamari

Frequent power failure and load shedding in the district have affected normal life and smooth irrigation for the last couple of weeks.

With the temperature hovering around 36 degrees Celsius along with the scorching heat waves sweeping across the country, frequent power cut has made their lives more miserable.

The power pump owners are the worst sufferers as they are not getting adequate power supply at this stage of boro cultivation. Due to the erratic power supply the owners are sustaining a huge loss this year.

Power supply available in the district is 17MW against the demand for 27MW in the peak hour during boro season every year, Abu Sayed Sarkar, executive engineer of Nilphamari Power Development Board, said.

The year-old 33KV transmission-line that stretched from the national grid at Saidpur to Nilphamari is to be blamed as it is not capable of transmitting more then 17MW.

Insar Ali, general manager of Rural Electrification Board in Nilphamari, there are nearly 1.2 lakh domestic stakeholders under his jurisdiction.

Besides, about 11,359 power pumps are in operation for the ongoing boro irrigation, raising the demand at 38MW this year.

Shahidul Islam, a farmer in Tepa Kharibari union in Dimla upazila, said a few days ago his power pump was completely burnt due to the frequent power cut.

However, the higher officials of both the PDB and REB in Nilphamari said they are hopeful that the situation will improve soon.