While most Dhaka residents are staying home to help contain the spread of coronavirus, hundreds of people thronged the Azimpur office of Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) today to pay their electricity bills after electricity lines were cut off.

Despite government's announcement that household consumers will be allowed to pay electricity bills at a later date without being fined, thousands of households in Lalbagh and Azimpur were suddenly left without power.

As a result, hundreds of disgruntled subscribers rushed to the DPDC office to recharge their pre-paid card and get electricity back in their homes. However, the DPDC office was not prepared to tackle such a massive crowd. Only one counter, among three, was manned by two employees. By 12:00pm, almost a kilometre-long queue had formed in front of that lone counter, our correspondent who visited the spot reports.

A DPDC official meanwhile told The Daily Star that the government's announcement, made on March 22, is applicable only for post-paid consumers. There was, however, no such mention of that provision in the original announcement.

Hundreds of people, many of whom were women and elderly citizens had to wait for three to four hours under the scorching sun to recharge their pre-paid cards. Due to the severe heat, most were seen taking off their masks off while hurling expletives at the DPDC officials.

Asif Ahmed, an Azimpur resident, said, "The government assured us that our line will not be cut off and we are allowed to pay our bills at a later date to avoid crowding in the banks amidst this threat of coronavirus infection.

"Now, we are standing here for three hours in 36-degree centigrade temperature. Some of these people have already fallen ill and become dehydrated," he added.

Asma Khatun was able to recharge her card after waiting for four hours.

"I found only two people at the counter and the entire office is closed. How do they run an important establishment like electricity office with two staff?" she queried.

Md Kamruzzaman another disgruntled DPDC subscriber, said, "The government forced us to create this crowd. What will happen if we get infected in this place? Will DPDC take responsibility and compensate us?"

Sheikh Md Ziaul Hasan, Superintending Engineer, DPDC, said, "Actually the government's announcement of delayed payment of bills is applicable only for post-paid customers. For pre-paid customers, it has already been programmed that electric line will be cut off after consuming the purchased credit.

"However, the system was designed in such a way that electricity line is not cut on holidays. Since this is the first working day, all the lines have been cut at the same time. We shall keep this in mind in the future and for the next phase of pre-paid metres we shall programme those accordingly," added Sheikh Md Ziaul Hasan.