Outcry against outages

Several hundred farmers yesterday besiege the Palli Bidyut Samity office in Nilphamari town and vandalise the room of the general manager protesting power outages during the peak sowing season of Irri-Boro in the district. Photo: STAR

Four employees of Palli Bidyut Samity (PBS) office in the district headquarters were injured as a section of agitators vandalised the office during a demonstration demanding uninterrupted power supply for irrigation during the ongoing boro season.
Several hundred farmers of different villages under Nilphamari Sadar upazila joined the procession brought out by Jubo League and besieged the PBS office at Sutipara village in the town at noon.
At one stage, 25-30 young men forcibly entered the office and ransacked the rooms of general manager (GM) and assistant general manager (AGM), said Sekendar Ali, AGM of PBS, Nilphanmari.
They broke chairs, tables, file cabinets and other things of the office.
Four employees of PBS -- Anisur Rahman, 40, Mostofa Kamal, 45, Abdur Rouf, 42, and Rezwanul Haque, 45, were injured by the unruly agitators.
"Seeing the agitators proceeding aggressively towards my office, I left the place for safety," said SM Habibur Rahman, GM of PBS, Nilphamari.
"Against the requirement of 30-MW electricity daily, we are getting only 8-MW," he added.
District unit general secretary of Jubo League Shahed Mahmud denied involvement of any of his activists in ransacking PBS office.
He, however, said, "Everyday farmers throng union and ward level offices of Jubo League and complain to local leaders about irregular supply of electricity by PBS."