Cry for power recharge

Hundreds of people gathered at the DPDC office Khilgaon on Sunday to recharge their electric meters. Photo: Masum Billah

Rahman, a Jatrabari resident, went to Kajla to recharge his prepaid electricity meter on Saturday morning. But to Rahman's utter dismay, he was met by a massive queue in front of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) office.

Thousands stood in line, all awaiting to recharge their electricity meters.

Rahman, seeing this, decided to return home. However, he was again met with an unprecedented circumstance – a clash broke out between the security forces and protesters in the vicinity.

Running for his life, Rahman entered an alleyway and took a rickshaw to his home – just 3 km away from the DPDC office. But to escape the violence, Rahman had to take a 15 km detour.

At the end of this frightful ordeal, Rahman's only question was "when will I be able to return to normal life?."

On Sunday morning, this correspondent visited the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC)' Executive Engineers' office near Khilgaon-Taltala market.

Squeezing through at least hundreds of people queued into the office, the palpable suffocation hit hard. The pressure from the clamouring people, including men and women, left not even an inch vacant.  

The women were especially in a precarious circumstance, given the lack of oxygen between the walled rooms and stairs. Moreover, with the men competing to get ahead of each other and crowds shouting at the top of their lungs, the women could not stand with any ease.  

Harunur Rashid came to this office from Bashabo.

"My meter went red from Friday. When the authority was contacted, they said my electricity line won't disconnect in this situation. But my line was disconnected at 10 am today [Sunday]. I couldn't recharge as the online system doesn't work," he lamented.

Not just Rashid, but many people were shouting and asking why their lines were disconnected although the authority – according to the customer's accounts -- said the line won't be disconnected? To this, a DPDC official responded, shouting back, "Who said that? [the line won't be disconnected]. The line was not disconnected because of Friday-Saturday [the weekly public holiday]."

A counter ensued, and the people screamed: "Today [Sunday] is also a holiday!"

The official responded, "They [the government] declared 'holiday' suddenly. This [Sunday] is not a weekly holiday. We have the option to keep the electricity supply on over Friday-Saturday [even if the credit runs out]. But our server is on today [meaning line will be cut in the event of the credit running out]."

So if the server is "on," why can't the meter be recharged online? "Ask the government why online recharge is not working," replied the DPDC official.  

This conversation happened right in front of the Executive Engineers' room.

People flooded every inch of space from the stairs to the floors – and they were on the verge of falling victims to a stampede. The women especially looked worried as the men continued to shout and the chaos continued to grow more intense.

"I have been here for over an hour and yet no idea when I will get to reach that door," said one of the woman, hinting at the door where men were charging on each other to enter and recharge their meter.

Outside this suffocating disorder, the line extended nearly half a kilometer.

Hanif, a Khilgaon resident, just arrived to the edge of the line.

When asked if his line also disconnected, he replied in affirmative. "I recharged Tk1,000 at this office [DPDC in Khilgaon] on Saturday. I entered the key as directed. But today at 10 am, my electricity was disconnected. Yesterday, I had minus 4, today it showed minus 115 on my meter. If they gave me Tk1,000 credit, my electricity is not supposed to disconnect," said Hanif. The frustration and anger were evident.

An elderly man, who arrived from Rampura, also faced a similar fate – his electricity line had been disconnected.

Saddam, from Riazbag in Khailgaon also at the same DPDC office, said that the condition of his family is precarious. "It is so hot the children are suffocating in heat. I haven't heard any sort of warning that electricity will be cut. If I had known, I would have recharged enough credit in advance."

Later on Sunday, TBS correspondent Kamrun Naher visited the same office and saw order has returned to the Khilgaon office after police set designated lines for men and women. However, around three to four women had previously fainted from pure exhaustion and heat. Upon reaching the second floor, "I saw them seated under the fan, and regaining composure," recounted the reporter.

Amidst so much wait and struggle, were the prepaid cards getting recharged? "After waiting in long queues, I finally left the office around 1:30 pm. The official could not recharge my card, but said a token number will be texted to me with which I can get the job done," said Naher.

As of 6:30 pm, no such text message was received. It took another member from the same household to visit the office to collect the token number.    

In Mirpur, things did not fare much better. In one of the Dhaka electricity supply company (DESCO) offices, a ladder was seen by customers to climb up the 2-3 storey building.

Why? Because the office was already at full capacity with customers and a dysfunctional server pushed the queues out to the streets. So much so that the DESCO officials locked the main gate. In response, many propped up a ladder to climb into the office building.

On Sunday noon, there were easily around 500 people crowding at the office. An elderly woman, after waiting to recharge her prepaid electricity meter card for more than two hours, was heard requesting army personnel stationed outside, "we are here for a basic service. Please do something to maintain some order."

At the Mirpur 13 office, as more hours passed, an estimated 1,000 people were seen crowding the office – all there to ensure electricity at home.

TBS' Mohsin Bhuiyan, Kamrun Naher and Jahidul Islam contributed to this report.