Violent protests against power outage in two districts
Star Report
Demonstrations, vandalism and barricades continued at Chuadanga and Rajshahi even at the weekend yesterday when the power consumption is much less than the usual weekdays.Meanwhile, the residents of Talaimari, Hadirpmor, Kazla, Binodpur and students of Rajshahi University (RU) on Thursday night ransacked Talaimari power sub-station and put barricades on Rajshahi-Dhaka highway several times demanding uninterrupted power supply. Following an earlier declared programme, thousands of people took to the streets at Darshana in Chuadanga district and put blockades on roads and railways for three hours from 8:00am protesting the ongoing load shedding and power outage. The protesters chanted slogans and demonstrated all over the town for uninterrupted power. They warned of tougher programmes if the outage continues during the Ramadan. Locals vandalised a power sub-station and staged demonstration by burning tyres on the highway on Thursday night, reports our RU correspondent. On the same night, students of different residential halls of RU brought out a procession on the campus for power supply. As the procession passed through Kazla and Binodpur, locals spontaneously took position on the highway and put barricade on the road for hours. The combined rally later reached Talaimari power station and the demonstrators threw stones and brickbats at the station. They also tried to set fire to it but police resisted. The Power Supply Division officials, who fled the station to escape the public wrath, sought additional police forces to guard the sub-station. Against the demand of 45 MW power for the areas, only 12-15 MW was transmitted on Thursday and Friday, Power Development Board sources said. Expressing dissatisfaction over the power crisis, Rajshahi traders said their business in the month of Ramadan is being badly hampered due to the crisis. UNB adds from Habiganj: Power generation at Shahji Bazar power plant came to a complete halt as its unit-4 was shut down on Thursday morning. Earlier, eight out of nine units of the 164 MW plant, set up before the country's independence, went out of order. Power generation at the 10 MW unit-4 tripped due to technical faults, sources said, adding that engineers are trying hard to repair the unit.
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