Opposition leader and Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman has proposed that load shedding should commence from the Parliament building itself to promote equitable power distribution.
Speaking during a parliamentary session on Thursday, Shafiqur made the recommendation following an announcement by State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit.
Amit had informed the House that, acting on the Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s advice and following discussions with the opposition leader, the government has decided to implement experimental load shedding in the capital.
The state minister emphasised that it is “by no means desirable” for urban residents to live in comfort while those in rural areas suffer. He noted that power production is currently being hampered by an inadequate fuel supply, leading to outages in various parts of the country.
During the session, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed observed that parliamentary proceedings could not be halted.
Clarifying his proposal, Shafiqur said, “I did not recommend load shedding during the parliamentary session. I spoke about implementing load shedding in the various offices of the Parliament building.”
Earlier, Amit detailed the extent of the power deficit. He reported that on Wednesday, the national demand for electricity stood at 16,000MW, while production reached only 14,126.35MW. This created a daily shortage of 2,086MW, necessitating forced load shedding.
The state minister admitted that many citizens are being “harassed” by power issues during the current intense heat.
He attributed the crisis to the mismanagement of the previous “fascist” government, stating that while the official production capacity appears high on paper, there is a significant discrepancy in reality.
