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A parliamentary watchdog body Monday observed that the persistent power shortage in the country was the result of lack in coordination between power division and energy division, reports BDNEWS.
The Power Development Board (PDB) at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban admitted that the power production in the country was hampered mainly for the technical faults of plants, not poor supply of gas.
"There is no coordination between the activities of power division and energy division. Therefore, the power generation is being hampered," the committee Chairman Shahidul Islam, who presided over the meeting, told journalists after emerging from it.
Other members of the committee Nazim Uddin Alam, Ilias Ali and Habibul Islam Habib also supported the chairman.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has two divisions - one on power (electricity) and the other on energy (gas and coal). The power division is headed by a state minister while the energy division by an adviser.
The joint meeting was held to make clear which wing of the ministry - power division or energy division - was responsible for persistent power shortage and load shedding. The two divisions used to blame each other at the previous meetings of the standing committee.
The meeting asked the PDB to submit a detailed statement on supply and consumption of electricity in every district. The committee will make its final recommendations on power situation after holding the next meeting on October 31.
Nazim Uddin Alam said the power division always attributed the ongoing load shedding to the poor supply of gas. At best 100 megawatt (mw) power supply was hampered by irregular gas supply. But the country was experiencing up to 700 mw of load shedding everyday.
The meeting sources said Energy Adviser Mahmudur Rahman asked PDB Chairman ANH Akhter Hossain whether the 80-mw Tongi Power Station went out of order for technical fault or for poor supply of gas. The PDB chairman admitted that technical lapses caused the power plant failure.
State Minister for Power Division Iqbal Hasan Mahmud left the meeting early to attend a meeting with the World Bank (WB) officials. Committee members Sarder Sakhawat Hossain Bakul and Shamsuzzoha Khan also attended the meeting.
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