Power outage across country as national grid collapses

Power outage has hit several places in Bangladesh, including the capital Dhaka, due to a collapse in the national grid.

Reports of power cut were coming in from several places including Narayanganj, Rangpur, Sirajganj and Sylhet on Saturday.

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid told bdnews24.com: "The national grid has collapsed. We are working on it. Power is back on in some places already. It might take an hour (to restore power supply)."

West Zone Power Grid Company's Executive Engineer in Comilla Arifur Rahman said the brownout occurred around 11:30am due to a glitch on the National Grid at Bheramara Upazila's Sholodagh.

Meanwhile, the entire Rajshahi division is experiencing a power cut.

Power Development Board's (PDB) Rajshahi Division Chief Engineer AM Masud Faroque told bdnews24.com: "The power transmission line connecting Bangladesh and India has snapped causing power outage across the country. Repair works are going on."

Chittagong PDB Senior Assistant Director (Public Relations) Md Moniruzzaman said production at the power plants in Chittagong has stopped after the national grid failure. “The local power plants are operating but since there is no way to store electricity the plants have been shut down.”

Meanwhile, production at the nine units of the Ashuganj Power Plant, the second largest in the country, has also stopped due to the national grid collapse.

The plant's technical division chief Sajjadur Rahman said: "The national grid collapsed due to a glitch at the Bheramara sub-station. Production of the nine units of Ashugnaj Power Plant stopped around 12pm."

PDB's Rangpur region's Chief Engineer ABM Mizanur Rahman said that they have been experiencing a power outage since 11am.

Executive Engineer of PDB in Sirajgnaj Syed Abu Hena Mostafa said:" Due to problem in the national grid there's a power cut in the entire Rajshahi division since 11.25am."