State minister comes under fire in JS

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday came down heavily on State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid due to the ongoing power crisis across the country.
Addressing the parliament during the discussion on cut motion tabled by the state minister, they criticised the ministry for its failure to manage the electricity supply situation properly.
JP lawmaker Fakhrul Imam said that though the demand for electricity is around 16,000 megawatts, the generation capacity has been increased to around 26,000 MW, causing a huge financial loss to the country.
Another JP lawmaker, Kazi Feroz Rashid, told the house that there was no load-shedding in the villages a few days ago, but all of a sudden there is no power there amid the scorching heatwave.
“Where has the power gone?” he questioned, adding that there was a lack of coordination among the officials of the power ministry. They should have built sufficient stock of coal and diesel to avert the crisis, he said.
He also noted that though the senior bureaucrats are enjoying the comfort of nonstop air-conditioners, the people of the villages are suffering from the severe heatwave.
JP leader Rawshan Ershad said the government should take steps for further gas exploration.
In response, Mr Nasrul said the entire world is facing an energy crisis due to the Ukraine war while the dollar prices shot up and energy became unavailable. The coal and gas could not be procured even after offering money as everybody is hankering after energy, he said.
“We have forgotten that there was load-shedding across the country for 16-18 hours before this government’s taking office,” he said, mentioning that the present government has raised the power generation capacity manifold.
He, however, said the situation would become normal within 15-16 days as the shipment of coal is expected to arrive in the country by then.
Earlier on Monday night, blaming the ongoing heatwave for the intensified power crisis, the state minister in his Facebook post urged all to cooperate with the government by refraining from misuse of power.
He explained that the use of air-conditioners and fans has increased manifold due to the scorching heat, jacking up the overall demand for electricity.
He also informed the house that the country’s power generation was 13,635MW as on June 3.
“Imagine what could have happened had the generation been only 3000MW like that of the BNP regime?” he said, adding that the government is taking all out effort to bring back normalcy in the power situation.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com