Dhaka, Aug 13 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League has accused the ruling BNP government of pushing the country into an unprecedented energy crisis, saying it has continued the “fatal policy inertia” of the previous interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus. The party claimed that daily power outages lasting between six and 12 hours have made life increasingly difficult for people across the country.
Expressing grave concern over the situation, the Awami League said, “The crisis is no longer a temporary inconvenience; it is a full-blown systemic collapse. As record-setting power deficits paralyse major cities and regional districts alike, one question echoes across the global community: Can a civilised, developing nation truly function under such complete institutional failure?
Highlighting the immediate and devastating human and economic impact of prolonged load shedding, the party said that the energy crisis has disrupted personal lives, while affecting major sectors including education, healthcare, industry and the broader economy.
“Ordinary life has been reduced to a daily calculation of heat, darkness and scarcity. Families lose sleep. Small shops close early. Cooking and basic routines are disrupted for hours at a stretch. Education has been hit hard. Students across rural and semi-urban areas study by phone light or abandon evening work entirely. Digital learning tools built over the past decade are rendered useless during the longest cuts,” the Awami League stated.
“Industry and factories are losing production hours and competitiveness. Garment units in industrial belts report repeated multi-hour stoppages. Rice mills sit idle. Semi-intensive shrimp farms in Khulna face oxygen crashes when aerators fail, risking entire stocks. Irrigation pumps stop in Rajshahi and Natore. Manufacturers already coping with gas shortages now face a second energy failure, raising diesel costs and delaying export shipments,” it added.
The Awami League highlighted that Bangladesh’s healthcare sector is operating under heightened risk, with regional hospitals and clinics relying heavily on diesel generators to power intensive care units, perform surgeries and maintain vaccine cold chains. In a healthcare system still struggling to expand its capacity, it said, prolonged power disruptions pose a direct and serious threat to patient safety.
“The broader economy absorbs the cumulative hit. Bangladesh’s growth model rests on manufacturing, agriculture and reliability for foreign buyers. Persistent shortages raise costs, deter investment and erode the credibility the country has spent years building,’ the party noted.
The Awami League said that the country’s energy security is not a luxury but the foundation of “modern life, education, industry and healthcare.”
Slamming the successive governments that assumed office post the 2024 political upheaval, the Awami League said, “Bangladesh’s current rulers, first the interim administration and now the elected BNP government, have allowed a solvable crisis to deepen into a national emergency. The lights are going out. The question is how much longer the public will tolerate the darkness.”
–IANS
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