The government has formed an eight-member probe committee to investigate how yesterday's grid failure occurred, disrupting electricity supply across 21 districts for more than an hour.

Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, announced the formation of the committee at his office today.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) Pro-Vice Chancellor Abdul Hasib Chowdhury will head the committee, while the member secretary will be Mazharul Islam, senior assistant secretary of the Power Division.

Other members include another Buet professor, the additional divisional commissioner of Khulna, a member of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, a chief engineer of West Zone Power Distribution Company, and two members from Bangladesh Power Development Board and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh PLC.

The committee will investigate the reason behind the failure, identify those responsible, and suggest measures to prevent such incidents in the future. It has been asked to submit its report within the next seven working days.

Around 5:45pm yesterday, a technical fault in the national power grid led to outages, disconnecting Barishal division and parts of Khulna division from the national network.

The blackout lasted from 5:49pm to 6:52pm and restoration began afterward, although it took hours to fully resume supply in some areas.