PM's tit-for-tat power plan

Disappointed by the criticism of country’s power scenario despite the marked improvement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to teach the critics a lesson by reverting back the production capacity to what it was six years back.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 July 2013, 06:01 AM
Updated : 13 July 2013, 07:50 AM

Sheikh Hasina told a programme in Ganabhaban on Saturday, “Awami League had increased power generation during its previous regime, but it was decreased after BNP-Jamaat coalition came to power.”

“We had increased it from 1,600 MW to 4,300 MW. After seven years when we came back to power we found it dropped to 3,200 MW.”

She said during this tenure her government again enhanced the power generation capacity through various quick and effective measures.
“We are now in the position to generate 8-9,000 MW of electricity. We achieved that in a very short period. 6,675 MW of power was produced yesterday.”

“It now appeared that solving problems is also a problem. People will criticize you even for that. Why quick rental has been introduced? Why this….why that?”

She said, “If I decide to keep the production static at 3,200 MW by shutting down the remaining 54/55 power stations we built, for a couple of days, then what will happen?”

“We need to do this after Ramadan to make the critics realize what the power scenario was then and what it is now. Otherwise this criticism will continue.”

She said the government would start this after making a formal announcement after Eid.

Sheikh Hasina following criticism about electricity had told parliament last year that she herself had ordered for one hour-long power cuts twice daily-- in morning and in the afternoon. So that people don’t forget, the painful condition they used to live in.