The New Nation - Internet Edition

Shamim Jahangir

The Boro production across the country is likely to be affected this year due to the delay in providing electricity to new irrigation lines during the season, Rural Electrification Board (REB) sources said.

In view of the Boro season beginning on October 15, the REB, responsible for supplying power to the irrigation lines in the rural areas, wrote several letters to the Power Ministry for a decision in this regard.

"The normal demand for electricity is 1,850 MW in the rural area. It will cross 2,650 MW during the irrigation period," the source said.

"REB provided electricity to 2,09,097 farmers last year for irrigation purpose, of them, 27,000 were new users, which is likely to cross 35,000 as the diesel price has been raised this year," according to a REB official.

"We need Tk 196 crore to supply electricity to 35,000 new subscribers this year. Of the amount, Tk 157 crore will account for the purchase of 45,000 transformers, Tk 17 crore for 35,000 consumption reading metres and Tk 22 crore for 32,000 kilometres of service cables," the source informed.

"If the government fails to allocate the fund immediately and the decision for supplying the electricity is delayed, the farmers will face severe problem in irrigation this year," a high official of REB told the New Nation.

The Boro production target has been fixed at 196.14 lakh tonnes from 46.75 lakh hectares.