Roadblock, siege demanding power

3 September 2009, 17:00 PM

Star National Desk

Local people blocked highways and surrounded electricity offices in Dinajpur and Sylhet city on Wednesday night protesting frequent power outage. In Dinajpur, hundreds of power-hungry people put up barricades on Dhaka-Dinajpur highway at Ranirbandar under Chirirbandar upazila, disrupting traffic for about three hours from 8:00pm on Wednesday night, according to our correspondent. Later, law enforcers from Chirirbandar Police Station rushed to the spot and restored road communication at around 11:00pm. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both side of the highway due to the blockade. In Kaharol upazila, farmers laid a siege to local Power Development Board office at around 8:30pm on Wednesday demanding smooth power supply to keep the pump machines operational. They withdrew the siege programme following an assurance given by the local PBD men to ensure power supply to the pump machines at night. Our staff correspondent from Sylhet reported that the people in the city's Mirabazar area blocked Sylhet-Tamabil Road on Wednesday night protesting power outage in the area. They put up a barricade on the road and burnt some tyres. A good number of vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the road for 2 hours from 11:00pm. The agitators also demanded replacement of a transformer in the area. Following assurance given by the mayor and PDB officials, locals withdrew the barricade at around 11:00am. PDB however replaced the transformer at 1:00pm yesterday.