A Power Division investigation committee probing the fire that broke out  at Kumargaon Grid-substation Station in Sylhet submitted its report on Monday.

Receiving the report through a virtual meeting, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the failure in proper management of the Kumargaon Grid-substation is responsible for the incident.

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“The officials entrusted with the responsibility often show manpower shortage as an excuse for any incident. But none of them seem to be interested in upgrading their systems,” he told the meeting.   

He underscored an urgent need for ensuring the cyber and physical security of all power stations in the country to avert any accident.

A fire broke out at the Kumargaon Grid-substation  on November 17 plunged the entire Sylhet and adjoining areas into blackout for days.

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Following the incident, the Power Division formed an inquiry committee, headed by additional secretary Rahmatullah Md Dastagir, to investigate the incident to identify the people responsible for it.

But the committee failed to find the particular reason for the fire, i.e. what caused it,  and was also unable to identify any staff of the substation for the same, said a source of the Power Division adding that the committee, rather, held old-age machines responsible for the incident.

The committee placed a number of recommendations to avert such incidents in future.

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The meeting was also attended by power secretary Habibur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Belayet Hossain, Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain and managing director of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) Golam Kibria.