Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her call to the people to maintain austerity in using electricity at their houses and workplaces as well.

“You have to maintain austerity in using power so that we could provide new electricity connections to the consumers," she said and advised all to switch off power immediately after office hours and keep air cooler at 30-degree Celsius to this end.

Replying to a supplementary of treasury bench member Waresat Hossain Belal in the Jatiya Sangsad, Hasina mentioned various programmes undertaken by her government for increasing the country's power generation.

She said sifter assuming office, her government has taken prompt steps to solve the country' s power crisis.

Hasina criticised the past BNP-Jamaat government for its negligence in improving power situation. She said the BNP during its five-year tenure and the subsequent caretaker government for two years did not do anything for raising the country's power generation. The BNP had destroyed the sector through unbridled corruption and mismanagement, she added.

Answering to the main question, the prime minister said her government has taken various steps across the country to prevent illegal connections of power.

She said steps have been taken to conduct 15 mobile courts in Dhaka, five in Chittagong and others in different divisional and district headquarters to ensure lawful action against the illegal power users. Steps have also been taken to make the Power Act-1910 time befitting, she added.