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Students demonstrate for power

40,000 Bidi workers jobless in Haragachh as factories closed

oUR CoRRESPoNDENT, Rangpur
Students, joined by unemployed Bidi factory workers, staged a demonstration in Haragachh and laid a siege to the municipal office for smooth power supply.
The agitated processionists pelted stones at a bank branch on the way.
Police came and dispersed the demonstrators.
Later they held a rally at the municipal ground.
In the last fortnight, people in Haragachh industrial area staged several demonstration for smooth
power supply. About 40,000 Bidi workers in Haragachh have become unemployed in a fortnight as their factories remained inoperative due to frequent power outage. Most of the unemployed Bidi workers are passing days in hardship.
Led by the Haragachh Biddut Grahak Sangram Parishad (HBGSP), they staged several demonstrations in the last few days demanding smooth power supply in the area to ensure uninterrupted production in factories.
Meanwhile police in Kaunia
arrested several Bidi workers and their leaders of Haragachh Biddut Grahak Sangram Parishad (HBGSP) for attacking an official of the Rural Electrification Board (REB) and damaged his vehicle. Many of their leaders are now fleeing homes. activists of flee from their houses for ten days.
The trouble began when Power Development Board (PDB) decided to transfer power distribution authority to the REB. The local people including factory owners protested this, saying PDB's power supply is more irregular and costlier that
that of REB.
They demanded that PDB should supply power to the areas.
Commenting on the ongoing crisis, BNP leader Rahim Uddin Varsa, also an industrialist in Haragachh told The Daily Star that leaders of HBGSP violated the decision of a recent meeting with its leaders, REB and administration. "I would not take any initiative for any negotiation", Varsa added.
Loadshedding is Rangpur and other northern districts have made life miserable and affected business and trade.
When contacted, PDB sources said they have to go for frequent loadshedding in the areas alternately as the National Grid supplies only about half of the power they need.
The power crisis is more acute in rural areas, which are under the jurisdiction of REB.
REB sources said they get power from PDB, which is too inadequate to the needs. In many rural areas, farmers staged demonstrations and besieged REB offices in the last two months, but to no improvement in the situation.