Is the power crisis being manipulated?

Due to severe power outages, citizens across both urban and rural areas are grappling with unbearable heat and unpredictable blackouts that disrupt daily routines and inflict severe physical and mental distress on young children during the night. Furthermore, because rural regions are bearing the brunt of load shedding that lasts, in some cases, up to twelve hours daily, mounting public frustration has boiled over into civil unrest, with reports coming out that entities like the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board and various regional utility offices are seeking police protection amidst growing fears of widespread vandalism.
No wonder that this cascading energy breakdown has dealt a devastating blow to the nation’s industrial backbone, particularly in key manufacturing hubs like Narayanganj and Gazipur, where critical ready-made garment factories face operational paralysis due to acute fuel deficits that threaten export revenues and millions of livelihoods. Although official records indicate an installed generation capacity exceeding 33,092 megawatts against a peak demand of roughly 18,500 megawatts, actual production has collapsed because Petrobangla supplies merely 744 million cubic feet of natural gas per day against a required 2,524 million, forcing numerous power generation plants to remain idle.
While government officials attribute this systemic failure to sudden mechanical breakdowns at the Maheshkhali LNG terminal, technical glitches at the Barapukuria coal plant and lingering financial disputes with private power producers, but it is beyond common people’s intellect to explain how a system with such immense reserve capacity could collapse so abruptly. Consequently, an independent investigation is imperative to determine whether a covert syndicate aligned with the former fascist Awami regime is orchestrating a deliberate plot of sabotage to destabilise the current government by weaponising the energy sector and alienating the public.
Because using essential public utilities as political weapons is a direct threat to national security, the authorities concerned must move beyond temporary regulatory directives and establish a high-level, impartial inquiry board with a view to uncover the true causes behind the sudden infrastructure failures. However, at the same time, to protect the nation from state-subverted chaos, the administration must expeditiously secure alternative fuel supplies, restore continuous electricity and hold accountable any political conspirators who seek to exploit public suffering for destabilising ends.