Of this, the plant remained shut for 889 hours due to non-availability of gas, 1,318 hours for blockage of air intake filters due to polluted environment, 73 hours on request from the Load Dispatch Centre and the rest for scheduled maintenance and inspections.

So far as loss of revenue due to less generation is concerned, it is to be mentioned that the plant is being operated forcefully at partial loading between 20 MW and 30 MW since its inception due to non-availability of enough gas supply, which is harmful to a turbine. Such under-rated loading of a turbine will cause uneconomic wear and tear, and loss of revenue to the owner.

The gas turbine of Tongi plant is not a junk and it was manufactured and supplied by GE France.

Our reply:
Our story mentioned that the plant remained shut for a staggering 2,026 hours between June 22, 2005 and March 11, 2006. The rejoinder says it remained shut for 2,933 hours from August 24 last year till date. Accordingly, the PDB's revenue loss so far due to the shutdowns should be much higher than Tk 34 crore as our story mentioned. We stand corrected.

We have categorically mentioned "non-availability" of gas as one of the reasons for 75 rounds of shutdown of the plant since March last year. Records show that non-availability of gas is responsible for around 30 such shutdowns while the rest happened mainly because of the poor machinery and configuration of the plant.

The rejoinder contradicts nothing with the story and we stand by our story.