Power crisis severely hits Pabna civic life

PABNA, May 20: Severe load shedding has gripped the people of Pabna district affecting especially the businessmen, town dwellers, Aus and jute production and the students.
The Rural Electrification Board is getting only 45-48mw against the demand of 88-90mw power, an official of the board said.
Assistant Engineer Md Ziaul Islam Polash of Pabna municipality said that town dwellers have been facing an acute shortage of power as well as water supply as the pumps cannot run properly due to random power outages, low voltage and drought.
Pabna Poura Mayor Kamrul Hassan Minto said that it is not possible to run all of the 11 water pumps by generators.
Bibhuti Bhushon, Deputy Director of Agriculture Extension Department (AED) said Aus production in the district is likely to face a setback as the farmers cannot smoothly operate their power pumps due to power crisis while lack of rainfall coupled with fluctuating temperature has worsened the situation.
He also said they had a target of Aus cultivation on 60,335 hectares of land and jute cultivation on 34,879 hectares of land in nine upazilas of the district this season. But the power crisis is badly hampering the production.
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