There is no letup in the electricity woes of the country despite the present government has consumed over three years of its tenure. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz come to power on the slogan that it will improve economy and end load shedding.The party leaders have now declared that the menus of load shedding will end in 2018 which is also happened to be the year of election. Unfortunately, politicians have lost their credibility, respect and honour by telling lies over and over again. The electricity shortage is adversely affecting the national economy. The government ministers are still making tall claims that the government will be able to end load shedding, but electricity cannot be generated by raising slogans. The coal power projects, the solar energy projects and several hydropower projects, which the government had launched to improve electricity supply, are either abandoned or have simply proved to be a futile exercise. The Nandipur power project is a glaring example of mismanagement and corruption.
Former president Pervez Musharraf ruled the country with full authority for a decade, but did not pay serious attention to improve energy shortage. The worst situation emerged during the government of the Pakistan People’s Party when electricity vanished from the system but the consumers were slapped with overbilling, provoking them to go on the rampage. The charged consumers damaged the government and private properties and burnt the electricity bills to show their anger. Many precious lives were lost in the riots and economic activities fell to their lowest ebb. However, the PPP government remained unfazed and it successfully completed its five-year tenure. It should be noted that electricity generation is not purely the federal governmentsubject as the provinces are equally responsible for energy management. However, other than half-hearted efforts by the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments, no serious effort is being made by the provincesto improve electricity supply. The most pathetic aspect of the electricity system is that no one exactly knows how much electricity is produced, how much are the line losses and how much units are stolen away. Corruption has made the situation worst and crisis are deepening day by day.
The government will have to start from the basics to understand the actual electricity situation in the country. There is a gulf of differences between electricity generation and electricity consumption in the country, leaving limited choices for the electricity consumers. The nation expects that the leaders of the country will give serious thought to this subject of the governance as electricity is the lifeline of the economy.
