The New Nation - Internet Edition

Chittagong Correspondent

Life here in the port city has become difficult in recent days mainly for want of sufficient supply of water and power just ahead of ugly summer.

The early summer heat spell has also aggravated the miseries of the people apart from the disappointing situation in the power generation and load management.

Chittagong Water Sewerage Authority (CWASA) claimed that it had been pumping water only one thirds of the actual demands. The WASA Chief Engineer Mohammad Shafiqul Islam blamed generation shortfall as the main reason of short supply of water.

"We're planning to activate three more deep-tubewell and the prevailing water crisis will partially beminimized if those can operate perfectly," the WASA bigwig hoped.

The water crisis is indifferent in most of the areas across the city including Chandgaon, Khulshi, Pahartali, Agrabad, Halisahar, Bakolia, Muradpur Kazir Dewri and Lalkhan Bazar areas.

Many of the city dwellers have been forced to buy bottled water to address their demand.

With the advent of summer, the port city started plunging into darkness in every alternative hour. Some of the areas have become the victim of the PDB's one-eyed load management policy.

The power plants in the region all together generated only 216 megawatts of electricity yesterday against the demand of nearly 600 megawatts. Only 156 megawatts power was transmitted to the city consumers while the rest went to the national grid.

Deputy Director, Public Relations of the PDB Mohammad Moniruzzaman told this correspondent that they got 130 megawatts from national grid on Wednesday against 165 megawatts generation shortfall in Chittagong.