Top secret , a rickshaw puller in Dhaka, Bangladesh, struggles to work under the blazing solar as the city experiences its longest heatwave in decades. Adding to the distress is a crippling energy crisis, leaving Rahman and plenty of others with out electrical energy at night. The authorities has closed tens of hundreds of major and secondary colleges because of soaring temperatures exceeding forty degrees Celsius in Dhaka and 41 levels Celsius in Rangpur – the very best since 1958.
Bangladesh Meteorological Department officers haven’t seen such a protracted heatwave for the explanation that nation’s independence in 1971. The energy crisis is further exacerbated by the suspension of operations at the country’s largest energy plant as a end result of a decline in international exchange reserves and the depreciation of the Bangladeshi taka by about 25% towards the US dollar final year.
As a outcome, the South Asian nation of 170 million individuals is facing unprecedented load-shedding of about 2,500 megawatts, equal to what the country produced within the late Nineties. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina acknowledged the people’s suffering and mentioned the intense heatwave has solely worsened the scenario. The government has signed offers with Qatar and Oman to purchase gas and taken measures to import more coal.
Bangladesh’s industries, including the essential ready-made garments (RMG) sector, which accounts for over 80% of its export earnings, have been hit onerous by power outages. Factory owners say the crisis has raised their manufacturing costs and forced them to cut or delay output. Sazzad Hossain, an RMG firm proprietor, told Al Jazeera that machines in his factory are silent for hours as a end result of frequent power cuts..