TDS Desk:

Electricity load shedding has started to pinch the countrymen again with the rise in temperature and power demand over the past few days of the ongoing summer, sources said.
A very severe to severe heatwave is sweeping across the districts of Chuadanga, Dhaka, Tangail, Manikganj, Faridpur, Rajshahi, Sirajganj, and Jashore, according to the BMD.
The capital, Dhaka, experienced the highest temperature of the year on Saturday, as the mercury soared to 40.1 degrees Celsius, aggravating the plight of common people, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).
The country recorded its highest temperature in Chuadanga on Saturday, with the mercury reaching 42 degrees Celsius, BMD sources said.
A mild to moderate heatwave is sweeping elsewhere in the country and may continue, it added.
State-run electricity marketing and distribution companies have been enforcing load-shedding to cope with the soaring demand for electricity.
According to an official, the state-run Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd enforced around 15 MW of load-shedding in its jurisdiction, covering Gulshan, Mirpur and Uttara areas.
The super grid of state-run Power Grid Company of Bangladesh was overloaded at the Rampura-Bashundhara substations, resulting in forced load-shedding, the official said.
People in both urban and rural areas are suffering from load-shedding.
Businesses and commercial operations are also being severely disrupted due to electricity outages in major parts of the country.
The interim government’s decision to divert around 150 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas to industries from this month may have reduced power generation from gas-fired power plants, resulting in load-shedding, sources said.
State-run Petrobangla supplied around 1,042 mmcfd of gas to power plants on Friday, against an overall demand of 2,420 mmcfd, according to official data.
Previously, Petrobangla had allocated around 1,200 mmcfd of gas for power plants, but a meeting of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) last week decided to reduce the supply to around 1,050 mmcfd, close to Saturday’s level, for at least the next four months, from May to August.