DHAKA: Bangladesh will close schools for one extra day a week and cut office timings by an hour to save power, a government official said, as country battles a shortage after shutting down all of its diesel-run power plants. South Asian country last month shut down all 10 of its diesel power plants after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up cost of imported fuel.  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has decided that schools will remain closed for two days, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters. Schools usually open six days a week and are closed on Fridays but education ministry announced that they will now be shut on Saturdays as well. Bangladesh began daily two-hour power cuts last month, but many parts of country go without electricity for much longer. Shut plants account for about 6 percent of Bangladesh’s total power generation capacity of 23,000 megawatts. Natural gas, locally produced and imported, generates nearly three-quarters of total. Government will provide uninterrupted power to villages for irrigation from midnight to morning, he said.–Agencies

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 25 2022

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