Eastern Grid Failure Cuts Power Across Parts of Dhaka and Chattogram, Supply Restored in Most Areas
A failure in a grid in the country's eastern region cut power across various areas of Dhaka and Chattogram on Tuesday (27 October). Power Grid Bangladesh (PGCB) said the incident occurred at around 12:43pm.
In an emergency message, Power Grid Bangladesh said areas in eastern Dhaka — including Bhulta, Haripur, Siddhirganj, Gulshan, Rampura, Ulan and Motijheel — and part of Chattogram were unexpectedly cut off from power. Power Grid PLC said there was also no power in the Moghbazar, Banasree and Khilgaon areas.
The grid failure also cut the power supply to the Bangladesh Secretariat and Bangladesh Bank. As of 2:10pm, when this report was being written, the power supply remained off at all the ministries in the Secretariat. The sudden outage brought government and official work to a standstill.
Power outages were also reported in some areas outside Dhaka. However, Power Grid PLC said the power supply in other parts of the country, including the northern region, remained active and normal. The company said the national grid's operations are under the control of the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC).
On the cause of the failure, Power Grid PLC initially said the technical reason was not yet known. The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources later said the power connection in parts of Dhaka and Chattogram was cut because of a mechanical fault.
The ministry said on its verified Facebook page that work to restore the power connection on an emergency basis is under way. Power Grid Bangladesh said system restoration work is in progress and engineers are re-establishing connections step by step.
The ministry said the power connection has already been restored in most places. It is hoped that supply in the remaining areas will also be ensured within a short time.
