They said if the government allows the farmers of the bordering areas to avail of such a cross border trade, it would meet their demand for power to irrigate the lands for aman cultivation, which is now facing a severe crisis for want of seasonal rains, as India has additional supply of power on its northeastern side.

At the roundtable on 'Bangladesh Electricity Sector: Reality and Impact', organised by Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) at National Press Club in Dhaka, the speakers also urged the government to add at least 500 megawatt power more to the national greed every year to find out a permanent solution to the persisting power crisis.

"The government puts its attention to building power plants only when the country faces huge power crisis, but if 500 MW of power is added on annual basis we can avert the situation," Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) Chairman Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, also the president of Bangladesh Economic Association, said in his presidential speech.

"We see the government wants to solve the electricity problem by introducing captive power plant that the small and medium industry owners cannot afford. Therefore, the government should concentrate more on generating more power," he suggested.

"For the shortfall in rain, the aman cultivation will require irrigation at the planting stage, so for more irrigation this year the agriculture sector will be in need of more power, former secretary Dr Zahirul Karim said, forecasting on a possible crisis in agriculture sector originating from power shortage.

He also stressed the need for introducing cross border power trade, which, he said, may solve the problem to a great extent.

Mir Raziuddin Haroon, BUP senior energy expert, also a former high official of Power Development Board, presented the theme paper at the programme.

He suggested turning the oil burn power plants into gas or coal fired ones to save money.

Three power plants with the capacity of generating 396 MW in Khulna and Bheramara area burned liquid fuel worth Tk 6339 million in 2005, he said, citing official statistics.

He said 7.3 percent of the total power generation consume 33 percent of the total expenditure on fuel in the power sector.

Power sector could save Tk 5239 million in 2005 if the three plants were gas-fired ones, he observed, lamenting that the project for setting up a gas pipeline between Ishwardi and Khulna has been lying abandoned for the last few years.