A severe power crisis amid heat wave makes public life harder in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka.

As the summer is approaching to its peak with temperature hovers around 37 to 40 Celsius degree, inhabitants in the densely populated metropolitan city are virtually having steam bath day and night.

The government has no ready solution to this acute power crisis as there is a big gap between escalating demand and generation capacity of around 1500MW.

A long queue of cars at the city's filling stations, slum dwellers with empty pitchers and jugs scrambling for drinking water and most small shop owners sitting idle are quite common pictures in Dhaka city due to shortage of electricity.

Schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, private offices, apartment buildings, small mills and factories are also experiencing the same plight of the power shortage.

"It's unbearable...Electricity comes and goes. It's better to go to village and sit beneath trees with hand fan," Shamsunnahar in her late 70s complained about the frequent load shedding Tuesday.

Frequent disruption of power, 15-16 times a day, also impedes smooth supply of water and gas for household work. Most people were seen on streets with hand fans as electricity goes off at night.

Imran Sakur preparing for his college final exam is worried about his results as he cannot study due to power outage.

"My future will be bleak if I fail to score good marks to get admitted into university," said Imran.

Muntasir who just completed his second term in Computer Engineering at American International University Bangladesh has got a different problem. "I can't watch the multi million dollars Indian Premier League of cricket being played in South Africa due to load shedding. I miss my favorite matches," he said.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith admitted recently that there is no possibility of improving the power generation remarkably in next three years even a new power plant is installed now.

Power deficit is not a new problem in Bangladesh. Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) Managing Director Saleh Admed said on Tuesday that there is no alternate option but to augment generation to resolve nagging power crisis.

He said as there are constraints of public funds, the private participation should be encouraged to invest in the power sector, particularly in power generation.