After a meeting with State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood yesterday at his secretariat office, a delegation of the Shopping Complex Owners Association (SCOA) said they could, however, curtail the power consumption to half through switching off some of their lights.

"Even, we can shut down our shops for one or two hours," said SCOA President Mohammad Mokaddem Hossain who led the delegation.

The shopping mall operators met the state minister against the backdrop of his recent announcement that the power supply to markets would be stopped if the operators did not install own generators to use at peak hours (from 6:00pm to 10:00pm).

The state minister urged the mall owners to keep their businesses closed during the peak hours or install their own generators so that a bulk of electricity could be diverted to rural areas to facilitate the operation of irrigation pumps.

Reports said farmers faced severe problems in irrigating paddies at this high time of farming because of on-again, off-again electricity supply.

The state minister told the businessmen that nearly 200 mw power could be saved only from the city areas if they stopped business during peak hours or used own generators.

"We need to save the consumption for at least next three weeks. This would tremendously help operate the irrigation pumps for the sake of paddy cultivation and also help provide uninterrupted power supply for the students appearing at the SSC examination," he added.

The state minister said around Tk 17,000 crore investment is needed to meet the present demand for power, mobilising such a huge amount of funds is crucial.