State minister says current power crisis is ‘normal’

When the frequent power cuts are making lives miserable, the state minister for power has said the current electricity crisis is ‘normal’ for this time of the year.

Nasrul Hamid claims the situation has started to improve and power supplies will be a better in the month of Ramadan, which starts on Sunday.

He was speaking to the reporters in Chittagong after inaugurating the pre-paid meter introduced by the Agrabad Power Development Board on Friday.

“I know there are crises across the country. But you might have noticed that the situation has improved from today (Friday). It will improve further,” the state minister told journalists.

“We lost around 1,500 MW of electricity due to maintenance work in some plants and the collapse of distribution line connecting the Meghnaghat plant,” Hamid said adding “the current crisis is not unusual.”

He sai Bangladesh Power Development Board should be made a holding company.

“We have been saying for a long time that making PDB a holding company would strengthen PDB’s operation,” he added.

The state minister stressed that the PDB should have its own maintenance team to keep the situation under control.

Power Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus and PDB Chairman Khaled Mahmood also spoke at the programme.