Kushtia: Students of three residential halls at Islamic University in Kushtia endured nearly 30 hours without electricity over the weekend, facing challenges such as intense heat, water shortages, and disruptions to their daily activities including studying, meal preparation, and charging electronic devices.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the affected halls were Begum Khaleda Zia Hall, Ummul Mu'minin Ayesha Siddika Hall, and Shah Azizur Rahman Hall. The electricity supply to these halls was disrupted around 9 a.m. on Friday and was only restored by approximately 3 p.m. on Saturday, leaving students grappling with various inconveniences during the prolonged outage.
Students reported difficulties in sleeping and studying, with the disruption also impacting water supply and food preparation. The situation was especially challenging for those preparing for examinations. "It is difficult to stay without electricity amid the intense heat," said Ahsan Foysal, a resident of Shah Azizur Rahman Hall. He emphasized that it is not normal for a residential hall to be without electricity for such an extended period.
Nadia Islam, a resident of Begum Khaleda Zia Hall, expressed concerns about the water issues and questioned how female students, particularly those menstruating, were managing under such conditions. She noted that students had prepared for a scheduled power shutdown on Thursday, only to be caught off guard by the outage on Friday.
The university had previously issued a notice regarding the scheduled power shutdown on Thursday. Although the shutdown did not occur as planned, the electricity supply to the three halls was disrupted from Friday morning. IU acting chief engineer Abdul Malek explained that the disruption was due to a problem in an electricity line during renovation work at the substation. Efforts to supply electricity through the generator line were hindered by faults detected at several points in the lines, including those supplying the halls.