Football fans in different parts of the country vandalised power and government offices and held protests on Saturday as they could not watch the FIFA World Cup 2010 matches on televisions because of power outage.
   Frustrated at power outage during the match between Argentina and Nigeria, hundreds of people blocked a road stretch road at Syedabad in Dhaka about 8:00pm. They were on the road till 10:00pm.
   Hundreds of vehicles and passengers remained stranded on both ends of the road stretch. The demonstrators also damaged a number of vehicles on the road stretches between Tikatuli and Jatrabari.
   Residents of Suritola in Dhaka also blocked a road stretch after 8:00pm and vandalised some shops. They called off the blockade after police intervention.
   The Power Development Board could generally only 3,924MW of power against the demand for about 5,500MW about 8:00 on Saturday, because of gas shortage, as the second match of the day between Argentina and Nigernia, began in South Africa.
   Because of huge gap between the demand and supply, almost a third of people across the country could not watch the match.
   Residents of different parts of the city, especially Khilgaon, Rampura, Tejgaon, Mirpur and Mohammadpur, said power outage had taken place as soon as the match began.
   A mob of football fans earlier in Kushtia attacked and vandalised a power office at noon as they could not watch the first two matches of World Cup on Friday night for power outage.
   A group of 30 to 35 young people, sources said, attacked the Rural Electrification Board office at Barakhada in the Kushtia district headquarters. They pelted the office with stones and manhandled the general manager.
   A police team, on information, reached the spot and controlled the situation.
   Most residents of Kushtia could not watch the opening day matches on Friday because of power supply failure.
   In Bandarban, football lovers on Friday night vandalised the office of the upazila nirbahi officer and the resident of the upazila chairman at Rowangchari. They also brought a procession at Ruma in protest at disruption in power supply that stopped them from watching the game.
   The Rowangchari union council chairman, Angshoi Marma, said local residents went out on demonstrations as the power went off 10 minutes inside the beginning of the game about 8:30pm.
   He said the people threw stones, damaging windows and doors of the UNO and few other government offices. They also attacked the residence of the upazila chairman.
   Power officials said outages aggravated across the country in three days as the gas transmission authorities were yet to resume supply from the Bangura field, which was closed on Monday, after an accident in the transmission line. The field produces about 120 million cubic feet of gas a day.
   The officials said people would continue to face frequent outages until the gas situation would improve.
   ‘We are now facing double trouble. The demand for electricity has increased because of hot weather and as thousands of television sets remained switched on at a time for watching World Cup matches. The generation, on the other hand, has dropped because of gas crisis,’ an official said.
   The field operator, Tullow Oil, could not repair the damage till Saturday although Petrobangla on Tuesday said it would take two to three days to repair the damage.
   The Petrobangla chairman, Hossain Mansur, told on Saturday the experts of Tullow were examining the transmission line. ‘Tullow will submit a report tomorrow on the latest development. We hope the company will resume supply from the field on Monday,’ he said.
   After the closure of the gas field, generation from gas-fired power plants at Haripur, Ashuganj, Mymensignh, Baghabari and Chittagong reduced by about 300MW.
   Power officials, however, said even after the resumption of gas supply from Bangura field, there would be outages but less frequently.
   ‘The current gap between the demand and the supply is 1,500MW–2,000MW whereas generation will increase by only about 300MW once Bangura starts production and thousands of people will not be able to watch World Cup matches. Only rain, when the demand for electricity decreases, can decrease the demand for power,’ an official said.
   In Barisal, people vandalised power supply offices in different parts of the district on Friday night.
   Witnesses said people of Dhamura of Wazirpur laid siege to and vandalised the local area office of Palli Bidyut Samity about 8:30pm on Friday.
   People of Gaurnadi also laid siege to the local REB office at Barthi the same night and the police later controlled the situation.
   The power secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, told Saturday night they had not sought any special protection for power offices. ‘We urge people to keep their patience. Everyone knows there is shortage of electricity. We are trying our best. People should also support us.’
   A Dhaka Metropolitan Police official said they had earlier asked the police to remain alert to possible attacks on power offices as soon as the summer began. ‘The message to police stations is still in force.’