More time needed to unearth causes of grid failure: Nasrul

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Thursday it would take some more days to find out the exact reasons behind the failure of the national power grid two days ago, sending much of the country into a blackout for about seven hours, reports UNB.
"Initially it was found that when there was a deficit of power in the east side and surplus in the west side of the country, the transmission system tripped, leading to the grid failure", he told reporters while briefing at his ministry on Thursday.
He mentioned that the first power plant in Ghorasal station failed following the grid collapse, resulting in a colossal closure of power plants.
He said a probe committee of PGCB was working on it.
Referring to remarks by BNP leader Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, a BNP leader and former state minister for power, he said it would be investigated if the grid failure was sabotage.
Meanwhile, the Power Division has formed a separate committee to identify the reasons behind Tuesday's national grid failure and submit recommendations to avert recurrence of such incident.
Earlier, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh formed an investigation committee headed by its executive director.
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources on Thursday, an additional secretary (admin) of the Power Division will lead the new 7-member probe body.
Former chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Syed Abdul Mayeed, managing director of Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh, representatives from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) each, former executive director of PGCB Md Amir Khasru are members of the committee and Mohammad Hossain, director general of Power Cell, will act as its member secretary.