Chowrangi

The long list of failures which can be flawlessly attributed to the present regime contains power crisis in the top 5, along with terrorism and price hike. I am in Pakistan since my birth, and that was long ago, and since that time I am well aware of load shedding in summer, but never ever experienced it in the winter.

Rather, I always liked winter because I didn’t have to go through the ordeal of waiting for “light to come.” According to a news report, “THE Pakistan Electric Power Company (PepCo) plans to impose a four-hour load-shedding programme in order to deal with an imminent shortfall in capacity that is estimated to be about 2,000MW or some 20 per cent of the total demand.”

Why didnt the arsonists and looters attacked the homes of PepCo top officials? I wistfully mourn. Not a single power management policy, plan or scheme was hatched in the last 8 or so years let alone putting any such thing in place. Pakistanis have resigned to the fact that summers are synonymous to the load shedding, but in winter?

True the drought is here and its quite a long one, and true that our rulers, politicians, tycoons, profiteers, and other elite doesn’t believe in flexing up the power, but there has to be some way to cater for this crisis. Nation has to think up some thing. It is accepted that government wont touch the elite, so at least it should devise some crisis management plan for the nation.

In this regard, a short term, medium term and long term plan should be formulated. In the short term plan, they should raise awareness in the masses through a campaign in print and electronic media. In the medium phase, they should try to offer some financial benefits to the consumers of power if they cut their power to a certain extent, and in the long term plan which is the real remedy the government should come up with power projects.

Power crisis is not something new for the world. In 2000-01, In USA, the state of California introduced a ‘Flex Your Power’ plan to reduce the power crisis, New Zealand has done that. Australia has done that. Argentina and Brazil have done that. Portugal and even Sri Lanka have done it successfully,

They why cannot we?

Other posts by Commoner

• Habitual Condemnation - November 21st, 2008
• Sandwitched Population - November 21st, 2008
• Clear the Dust - November 20th, 2008
• Exactly What They Want - November 20th, 2008
• Punjab Heats Up - November 19th, 2008
• Eyeball to Eyeball - November 18th, 2008
• No Surprises There - November 18th, 2008
• Yousuf Ready to Leave "Power" - November 18th, 2008
• OGRA Website Hacked By Indian Hackers - November 17th, 2008
• Friends Of Pakistan Again Disappoints - November 17th, 2008