Restoration of power generation at Rampal

The news of restoration of electricity generation at the Rampal Thermal Power Plant has come to people as a relief amid searing heat wave across the country. Over a week frequent power cuts outside the cities have been causing immense suffering for the people of the country. The government planned to produce 16, 000 megawatts of electricity during peak hours in April and June keeping in mind the scorching heat during this time.

The government plan stumbled as power generation had to be stopped on January 14 due to shortage of coal. Power produced at the 1320-megawatt coal-fired power plant, a joint venture of Bangladesh and India, was commercially connected to the national grid on December 17 last year. It was a big blow for the government as well as people. Halting production due to lack of supply of coal just in less than a month into its operation brought forth a lot of questions.

However, the country didn’t have to wait for a longer period of time. According to Power Development Board, the country, April 17, produced 15, 604 megawatts of electricity but still it fell short of meeting the demand for 16, 221 megawatts. This shortage of power was the cause of sufferings of many people across the country as the country has been experiencing an unprecedented temperature rise due to climate change.

After the power generation came to a halt in January, load-shedding has increased particularly in the coun-try’s southwestern region. Anwarul Azim, deputy manager of the plant’s owner entity Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL), told The Business Post that after the plant restarted it could generate and supply 400 megawatts of electricity to the Khulna region.

Though Mymensing zone is the most sufferer people of Khulna region suffered no less than them. Chuadanga in the Khulna region is the hottest area where people have had to endure at least six hours of power outage on average. They have had, on average, power supply of 52-53 megawatts against the de-mand for 75 megawatts.

The Khulna region that include Chudanga, Jhenidah, Jashore, Satkhira and Khulna will now get relief not only from sweltering heat but they can now also use power to irrigate their Boro paddy fields. Due to shortage of power supply Feni and Mymensingh witnessed even protest rally demanding immediate solu-tion to the power shortage problem.

Officials of Palli Bidyut Samit (PBS) said that supply power to rural areas said supply of electricity was 20-25 per cent short of the demand. If their calculation is right then we are still lagging far behind to meet the 100 per cent demand for electricity. Though the government is blaming the grueling hit that surpassed all records of past 50 years it doesn’t seem quite right.

The country has the capacity of generating 22, 566 megawatts of electricity while Rampal Thermal Power Plant can generate 400 megawatts. Even after the restoration of power generation at Rampal plant the country doesn’t seem to meet the full demand for electricity during this hot summer days. Reportedly many power plants are closed due to maintenance works, technical glitch and fuel shortage.

If the closed power plants can’t be made operational very soon people’s misery will multiply. State Minis-ter for Power has already expressed his regret on his verified facebook page for the inconvenience of peo-ple. It is the minister’s realization that we must appreciate but what people need is immediate steps to re-duce people’s suffering and ensure irrigation of Boro field for the survival of the agro-economy.