Bangladesh power shortage triggers violent protest

DHAKA, Sep 19 (Reuters) Nearly 200 people attacked the office of a state-run power company in western Bangladesh today with stones and sticks, protesting against shortage of electricity in the area, police and witnesses said.

The protesters chased the employees of the Rural Electrification Board in the district of Meherpur and tried to ransack the office, Tuhin Aranyo, a resident said.

He said several protesters were injured after police used batons to evict them from the building.A police official confirmed the incident but did not give any details.

Meherpur is 250 km from the capital Dhaka.

Frequent power outages, often lasting for hours, have hit the country including the capital Dhaka since early this year after the gap between supply and demand widened, officials said.

They said the shortfall was due to closure of 18 power generation plants out of a total of 61 for technical faults or maintenance.

Bangladesh has an installed electricity capacity of 5,111 mw, but only 3,100 mw are produced -- leaving a daily shortfall of over 2,000 mw.

''Under the circumstances, we have no alternative but to ration power distribution,'' a government official said.

More than 20 people, mostly farmers, were killed in clashes with police in northern Bangladesh early this year during demonstrations demanding power to run irrigation pumps.

REUTERS DKA RK1544