Frequent load shedding and voltage fluctuation in Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Gibandha districts amid a humid weather have made life miserable, prompting demonstrations in different areas in the last two days.

Angry people laid a siege to Rural Electrification Board (REB) offices for hours at Aditmari in Lalmonirhat and Saghata in Gibandha districts.

The power outage for long hours is also affecting production in mills and factories, the owners said. Many of them said they are on the verge of closing their units after counting losses.

The situation is worse in rural areas where there is no power supply by REB for the last two days.

Sources in REB told this correspondent yesterday that they had nothing to do as they did not get power supply from the Power Development Board (PDB) in last

two days.

Load shedding, coupled with voltage fluctuation causes electronic goods like refrigerators and TV sets and other household appliances to trip, consumers in urban areas said.

PDB sources said, they got only 55 mw electricity on Friday and Saturday from the National Grid against 200 mw needed in the eight districts in greater Rangpur and Dinajpur.

They said the 55 mw electricity supplied to PDB in the eight districts is being supplied to municipality areas only by rotation. So the rural areas remained without power.

The PDB Chief Engineer in Rangpur said, they are getting less supply from the National Grid as Ashuganj, Ghorashal, and Roujan power stations are not operating at the optimum level. He said the situation may improve in two to three days after the stations resume normal operation.