NATORE - Frequent Power Failures Hit Irrigation in N Zone

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread

[Fair use for education and research purpose only]

BANGLADESH

Title: Frequent Power Failures Hit Irrigation in N Zone

NATORE, Apr 26: With the onset of summer, farmers of the country's northern region started to feel the pinch of acute irrigation problem due to frequent power outages caused by its short supply from the national grid, reports UNB.

Sources at Power Development Board said only 180-190 megawatts of power are now being supplied against the daily demand for 340 megawatts in 16 northern districts.

Locals said power supply in the region goes off every evening and it continues till 11 PM, seriously affecting irrigation and production in mills and factories.

According to Agriculture Extension Department, there are over 1,500 deep tubewells and 75 shallow tubewells in the districts for irrigation, and 60 per cent of them are power-driven. But most of these tubewells are lying inoperative due to frequent load-shedding.

PDB attributes the erratic power supply to stoppage of production in a good number of power units and plants. PDB officials said eight power generation units across the country remained inoperative while production in another 13 units remained suspended due to their repair works.

"Each power generating plant should be overhauled after every four years, but the authorities hardly take such steps," said a PDB official insisting on anonymity.

While talking to the UNB correspondent, some cold storage owners have expressed grave concern at the erratic power supply, as they have already stored a huge quantity of potatoes in their cold storage.

http://www.nation-online.com/200004/27/n0042706.htm#BODY2

====================

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), April 26, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ