Acute Power Crisis Hampers Irrigation in Tangail
Farmers feeding dying boro plants to cattle
Dying boro plants being fed to cattle at a field in Mirzapur upazila under Tangail district as lack of irrigation due to acute power crisis causes premature death to the plants. Photo: STAR
The acute power crisis in Tangail district is hampering irrigation during the peak boro paddy cultivation season, much to the concern of farmers who had expected a good yield this season. As the boro plants are dying in dried up fields, farmers in some areas are feeding the plants to cattle. The erratic power supply due to frequent load-shedding also paralyses normal life in the town areas. Demanding smooth electricity supply, local people including farmers laid siege to and damaged several power offices in different upazilas of the district in the beginning of the boro season. Local officials of the Power Development Board (PDB) and Rural Electrification Board (REB) said the situation has arisen as they are getting less than 50 percent of the required electricity from the national grid. Top officials from the two departments also visited the district but the situation has not seen any improvement. Boro paddy was cultivated on 1,69,070 hectares of land in 12 upazilas of the district this year as farmers expected good output but they are now worried about success of the farming as boro saplings are drying up due to lack of irrigation. The power crisis causes the shallow pumps to remain idle most of the time while a large number of electric motors of the irrigation pumps got burnt due to unusual voltage fluctuations, sources said. During recent visits to Mirzapur upazila, this correspondent saw farmers in the municipality area were feeding their cattle dried up boro paddy that was damaged due to lack of timely irrigation. Local REB offices sources said electricity demand in Mirzapur upazila in the peak and off-peak hour is 20 MW and 14/15 MW while only 4MW to 5MW electricity is being supplied from the national grid. A large portion of the electricity is supplied to the mills and industries in Gorai industrial area, they said. "Currently we are getting only 40MW electricity from the grid line against the 85MW demand in the district during the peak boro cultivation season. The prevailing crisis situation cannot improve without increasing electricity supply from the grid," said Obaidur Rahman, general manager of Tangail Palli Bidyut Samity. Frequent load-shedding also paralyses normal life and hampers activities in government and private offices, business centres, banks, educational institutions and other establishments in the district headquarters. "The district town needs 21MW electricity during the peak hour while it is getting only 8MW to 11MW electricity currently," said Rafiqul Islam, executive engineer of Power Development Board (Sales and Distribution) in Tangail. Besides, the works of urgent repair and necessary maintenance of PDB is being badly hampered due to shortage of necessary electrical goods including wire, pole and transformer, said Syed Tanzizul Aziz, general secretary of Tangail District Electricity Contractors Association. Asked about the matter, Sarwar Hossain, executive engineer of PDB (Distribution) in Tangail, said they have already sent letter to the higher authorities mentioning lists of necessary electrical goods including wire, pole and transformer for completion of necessary and pending repair and maintenance works in the district.
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