Acute power crisis hits tea industry

Tea gardens under the Moulvibazar Pally Bidduyit Samity (PBS) are the worst sufferers, which is affecting the export earning sector.

Gardens in Moulvibazar and Habiganj have already suffered a blow due to drought. Sprouting and growth of leaves were delayed as there was no rain from October to March.

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Plucking started after rains in March, but production is hampered now due to frequent load shedding, industry sources told this correspondent.

The Moulvibazar PBS gets only 9 mw to 10 mw power daily against its

demand for 25 mw, sources said.

According to Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) sources here, there are 115 tea gardens in Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts, which account for 88 per cent of tea produced in the country.

Operation of 60 factories in tea gardens are being greatly affected since tea production season began in February, they said.

All the gardens except those owned by James Finlay and Duncan Brothers are dependent on power supply by PBS. The two foreign companies have their own power generation system.

Demand for power in tea gardens in the two districts is 15 mw daily but the supply is between 3.5 and 3.8 mw, sources said.

Before start of tea production season in February, leaders of Bangladesh Cha Sangsad (BCS), an organisation of country's tea garden owners, met Rural Electrification Board authorities and urged them to ensure uninterrupted power supply to gardens. But this produced no result, they said.

Moulvibazar PBS has 3080 kilometer power supply lines covering 912 villages in seven upazilas of the district.

But the power supply is far less than the needs. Srimongal upazila gets 2.5 mw power against its demand for 8.5 mw, Rajnagar 0.80 mw against 3.5 mw, Kamalganj 1.5 mw against 6.5 mw and Baralekha and Juri upazilas together get only one mw against a demand for 3.7 mw, the sources said.

When contacted, the Executive Engineer of Srimangal Power Grid Station said, daily demand for power in Sylhet division during peak hour is 175 mw while the Shiddirganj Load Distribution Centre (LDC) supplies only 90 mw.

This 90 mw power is distributed by Srimangal Power Grid Station among five power sub-stations.

Sylhet sub-station gets 48 per cent of its demand for 90 mw, Srimangal 18 per of 30 mw, Habiganj 15 per cent of 25 mw, Chhatak 7 per cent of 12 mw and Fenchiganj sub-station gets 12 per cent of its demand for 18 mw, the official said.

Sources in Moulvibazar Power Development Board (PDB) office said, they get only 16 mw power from the National Grid daily. Of this, 9.5 mw is supplied to Moulvibazar PBS and the rest is supplied to PDB's subscribers through its own transmission lines in the district.

Three power plants in Sylhet division supply 114 mw power to National Grid.