Back To lanterns

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: The entire country was submerged in darkness, but according to the Minister for Energy, Khurram Dastagir, this was ‘business as usual’, a minor glitch and nothing to worry about but a ‘voltage fluctuation’.

The energy sector in the country is in a dire state, with tales of corruption and mismanagement. Those responsible are not held accountable; in fact, they are protected and cajoled as though the lives and well-being of millions do not matter an iota.

The energy sector debt—electricity, fuel, and gas—has reached 4177 billion rupees, with electricity topping the list at an estimated 2277 billion rupees, PSO at an estimated 600 billion rupees, and gas at an estimated 1300 billion rupees. The most worrisome aspect of all is that every year this circular debt gets increased by 129 billion rupees, yet the government consistently fails to put in effective economic, financial, and energy-related measures to halt and reverse the decline.

A few years ago, energy sector companies suggested that the cause of load shedding and breakdowns was the damaged transmission system. This followed the earlier assurance that the country would be free from load shedding with the help of private power-generating units.

On a lighter note, in order to explain the latest conundrum, it was bizarrely suggested that the person at the main switch had his mobile phone stolen and could not be contacted while taking time off work. On the same note,  it was also put forward that the man at the controls was sacked and was replaced by another ‘favourite’ who knew nothing about the system, and his incompetence plunged the entire nation into darkness.

Millions of hard-working and already economically oppressed people are awaiting the outcome of this latest power failure that has cost them dearly in terms of work and productivity.

Millions of others are facing exorbitant prices with bills that have skyrocketed, gas that doesn’t cook and is absent when most needed, and water, the most precious resource, has to be bought to stay alive and avoid diseases such as Hepatitis A to Z.

The question remains: will the responsibility be fixed? Who is to blame for the loss running in trillions owing to inefficiency and incompetency?

These questions, like so many others, remain unanswered to date. The nation continues to wait in anticipation for the day when Pakistan will have its head held high and its citizens will take pride in ‘the land of the pure’.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.