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Residents of Shimrail village in Ishwarganj municipality of Mymensingh have attacked and vandalised the office of a residential engineer of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB), protesting a week-long power outage in their area.
Electrical equipment and drawers at the office were damaged during the incident. PDB Sub-Assistant Engineer Rezaul Karim was allegedly beaten by the protesters. Police later arrived and brought the situation under control.
Around 200 to 250 residents of Shimrail village went to the PDB office at around 11am on Thursday (August 20) and began protesting. The situation escalated into an attack and vandalism. Police managed to disperse the protesters after about half an hour.
Residents Sajib Mia, Nurul Haque, Atikul Islam and Zahirul Islam said the village had been without electricity since its transformer broke down on August 13. They said several thousand residents had been suffering as a result.
They alleged that they had paid Tk50,000 to the PDB residential engineer after being promised a new transformer, but power had not been restored even after a week. Frustrated by the delay, they went to the electricity office to protest.
The protesters also said the village transformer had broken down about a month earlier. Instead of a new transformer, an old one was installed, which broke down again after a few days. They alleged that repeated use of old transformers had prevented a permanent solution.
The week-long outage has caused water shortages, difficulties in preserving food, suffering among children and elderly people amid the intense heat, and disruption to students’ studies, locals said. Businesses have also suffered losses, they added.
‘Allegation of Tk50,000 Payment Is Baseless’
PDB Sub-Assistant Engineer Rezaul Karim, who was injured in the attack, said, “Before I could understand what was happening, the protesters attacked me. The allegation that Tk50,000 was paid for a transformer is baseless. However, line workers are often given some expenses for line connection and repair work.”
He said the residents had mainly demanded a new transformer, but an old one had been supplied because of a shortage of transformers in the department. This led to their anger and the subsequent attack, he said.
Ishwarganj PDB Residential Engineer Hamza Imam said the department had been informed several times about the transformer failure in Shimrail village. However, delays in receiving a transformer from higher authorities occurred because of a shortage.
“A transformer arrived on Wednesday night. But as it was an old one, the residents became angry and attacked and vandalised the office. Our Sub-Assistant Engineer Rezaul Karim was injured,” he said.
Ishwarganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Robiul Azam said police went to the scene after receiving information and brought the situation under control.
The residential engineer later assured the protesters that a transformer would be installed quickly and power supply restored. The protesters then left the area, and the situation is now normal, the OC said.