Power Development Board (PDB) sources said the resumption of the plant that remained shut for maintenance from last week eased the crisis a bit, but the overall power shortfall was close to the previous day's on back of growing demand.

The peak demand for power was 3,600 MW yesterday while the power supply was 3,200 MW. A day before the demand was 3,550 MW against a supply of 3,050 MW.

Unlike the previous days, the authorities resorted to power cuts outside Dhaka to minimise the impact in the capital.

A power cut hit Rajshahi at 3:00pm yesterday and continued until the filing of the report at 8:00pm.

Power supply to Keraniganj was also pitiable.

Talking to The Daily Star a family member of national cricketer Mohammad Rafiq said there was no power in Aganagar from Saturday night.

The blackout deprived the family of watching Rafiq's stunning performance against the West Indies in St Lucia.

The crisis began last week when the 450 MW Meghnaghat plant collapsed abruptly amid the closure of Haripur plant and one-fourth of its 800 MW capacity generation at Ghorashal plant because of poor gas supply.

In addition, the 240 MW Kaptai hydropower plant suspended operation in the wake of drastic fall in Kaptai Lake water level.

As the Meghnaghat plant was shut, the PDB scaled up generation in Ghorashal and restored partial generation in Kaptai.

But the crisis hovered around 500 MW.