Thousands of residents of Japan Garden City in Dhaka's Mohammadpur have been without electricity for the past three days after a transformer at the housing complex's own 33kV substation developed a fault, according to the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC).
The prolonged outage has also disrupted water supply, leaving residents struggling to meet basic daily needs amid sweltering heat.
Residents said they are running out of water, while children, elderly people and other family members have been suffering in the extreme weather. They said the electricity went out around 3:30am on July 7 and has not been restored. They urged the authorities to resolve the crisis immediately.
Contacted, DPDC Executive Engineer Ayatullah Imran Ali said there was no fault in the utility's power distribution network.
“The problem is with Japan Garden City's internal substation. One of its transformers has become faulty,” he told The Daily Star.
He said DPDC had inspected the system and, at the request of the authorities of the residential complex, attempted to restore the connection twice, but the problem persisted because the internal system had not been repaired.
“We have asked them to fix the substation and inform us after conducting the necessary tests. They have brought in technicians to carry out the repair work, and our team is providing all possible technical assistance,” he said.
The executive engineer added that DPDC has also kept another transformer ready to help restore electricity once the internal faults are resolved.
Md Wahiduzzaman, managing director of Japan Garden City, did not answer phone calls from this correspondent.
Earlier, Primary and Mass Education State Minister and Dhaka-13 lawmaker Bobby Hajjaj said he had instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate steps after learning about the residents' suffering.
In a statement, he said DPDC has been supplying electricity normally up to Japan Garden City's 33kV connection point, but power distribution inside the residential complex has remained suspended due to the failure of its own transformer.
The statement said DPDC is prepared to provide a transformer of similar capacity on a temporary rental basis to minimise public suffering.
"The suffering of residents is unacceptable. Since DPDC is ready to provide the necessary assistance, a prompt decision and coordination by the management committee are essential to resolve the crisis. No further delay is acceptable in the interest of the residents," the state minister said.
According to the statement, more than 3,000 residents have been affected by the outage.
Contacted, Jahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Adabor Police Station, said police have deployed a team in the area to prevent any deterioration in the law-and-order situation due to the prolonged power outage.
”I am personally supervising the situation,” he said, adding that engineers were trying to repair the faulty transformer.
