Power transmission line change becomes a boon for Mymensingh

Electricity transmission line change has become a fortune for the dwellers of the divisional city of Mymensingh as it has completely driven out load-shedding from the city.

It has turned into a source of blessing and inspiration, bringing forth change in the quality of life of 1.5 lakh people i9n Mymensingh, including the labourers working in numerous factories.

Local residents said they are benefiting from the replacement of electricity transmission lines in the Mymensingh region. This transmission line has changed the way of life of people. It has brought about a revolutionary change in industrial production as hundreds of different types of factories at present can run 24/7 multiplying the production in some cases by several times.

The factory is operational 24 hours, besides increasing the production, the opportunity of foreign currency income has increased. In addition to commercial factory clients, about 480,000 residential customers are now getting uninterrupted electricity.

According to the sources from the power division, under the NPD-NDP project in 2018, the work of 43km 132 KV transmission line from Mymensingh to Bhaluka was started and completed last year. Before this, there was an average load-shedding of 8-10 hours every day in Bhaluka and Trishal upazila of the district, famous industrial areas of Mymensingh.

However, due to the new transmission line, it is now possible to provide uninterrupted power for an average of 22-23 hours.

Due to this, the level of load-shedding has come down to a tolerable level, the consumers think. Beneficiaries say that to advance Digital Bangladesh vision, uninterrupted power supply must be ensured first. Electricity has no substitute for development of any production sector including mills. In the past, when there were hours-long load-sheddings, production and civic life came to a standstill. Locals claim that the situation has now completely changed compared to that period of time.
The speakers made the observation while addressing a meeting titled 'Budget 2024-25: Key Challenges and Transition' organized by Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) at the National Press Club on Tuesday (April 2).

Mohaiminur Rahman, Deputy Assistant Engineer of Bangladesh Power Grid Company, said that the current transmission line can take a maximum load of 162 megawatts. 120 MW more load than before is possible with the current transmission line. This makes it possible to distribute more than 120 megawatts of electricity to manufacturing industries and residential households.

Indrajit Debnath, Executive Engineer of the Power Division, said that as a result of the change in the transmission line, there has been a revolutionary change in the living standards of about 1.5 lakh people. With hundreds of heavy industries and hundreds of garment factories, especially in Bhaluka and Trishal, maintaining uninterrupted power supply was a huge challenge. There was no option to change the situation totally to overcome the load-shedding crisis. Due to which the electricity shortage has now reduced to a large extent.

According to PDB, the electricity demand in Mymensingh region is about 1,220 MW, but about 1,020 megawatts are available. The chief engineer of PDB Mymensingh office Md Emdadul Haque said that there is a shortfall of about 200 MW. There is some shortfall in power generation and supply due to Boro season and wildfires, but due to increase in load capacity in transmission lines, the problem of load shedding has been largely eliminated. The budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 will be Tk 8 lakh crore.

Md Shahiduzzaman Sarkar said we had targeted to collect Tk 5 lakh crores of revenue last year, but we failed. It is vice versa, as we have contracted trade-imports, there has been some threat to revenue.
Commenting about the size of the budget for the next financial year,

State Minister for Planning Md Shahiduzzaman Sarkar said, “This time's budget will be the people's budget. We are not disappointed. We started with a budget of Tk1 lakh crore. This time, InshAllah, we will make a budget of Tk 8 lakh crore.”

He also said that the budget is not just a number, not a figure. A budget is not just an income-expenditure account. The budget is prepared on several issues. The first issue depends on the political ambition of a government, political commitment and responsibility of the government to the people. Every government has a political agenda. That agenda has to be systematically budgeted to be used economically for human welfare. Our government formulates the budget based on 11 issues including commodity prices.

The state minister said, “We may have limitations in some places. But our standard of living has increased, and people's needs have increased. At one time people demanded food and clothes. Now people don't demand rice-clothes anymore. Now people demand to live a beautiful life. These are our achievements. Our government is working for them. But I'm not saying we've reached the end of it. Our government is trying hard to increase the tax to GDP ratio.”

The keynote at the discussion was presented by professor of Dhaka University and the executive director of Rapid Dr M Abu Yusuf.
Former chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Dr Muhammad Abdul Majeed, President of ERF Refayet Ullah Mridha, and Head of Prothom Alo Online Branch Hossain Masum, among others, ere also present at the discussion.