Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku on Sunday said the government has been forced to impose load shedding in Dhaka and elsewhere after technical faults shut down two power plants. Speaking in parliament under Rule 300, he said the outages had taken around 3,000 megawatts off the national grid. He did not identify the power plants.

Explaining the shutdowns, Tuku said one plant had to halt production due to a leak in its boiler tube, while another power plant suspended operations as coal could not be unloaded due to rough seas in the Bay of Bengal.

“As a result, nearly 3,000 megawatts [electricity] have been lost from the national grid. I discussed the matter with Opposition Leader Dr Shafiqur Rahman before making this statement in parliament,” the energy minister said.

Calling the situation a national crisis, he urged all sides to work together to address it. He expressed hope that conditions would improve within two days, easing the severity of load shedding.