Some 800 broiler chickens have died on a poultry farm in Sonagazi, Feni, amid intense heat and load-shedding. Farm owner Nazrul Islam Palash said the loss was about Tk 2 lakh.

The deaths occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, 18 August, at Palash's farm in Moddhom Sujapur village of Sonagazi Sadar union.

Locals said Nazrul Islam Palash has been raising broilers on a farm next to his home since last year. On Wednesday and Thursday the whole area suffered severe load-shedding in intense heat. The farm owner phoned the power department repeatedly but got no response. At around 3pm the chickens died before his eyes.

Nazrul Islam Palash said he had raised the birds on feed bought at high prices, but in the intense heat and severe load-shedding 800 of his chickens died, causing him an irreparable loss.

Sanat Kumar Ghosh, an engineer and DGM of Sonagazi Palli Bidyut Samity, said the national grid had failed for two or three days. "In the intense heat we got 44 per cent of the electricity we needed. Also, the voltage on the 33 kV line fell to 10 kV. As a result, uninterrupted supply as per demand was disrupted," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.