Insanity prevails on energy crisis

ENERGY CRISIS in Pakistan has virtually become part of our national life drastically impacting the whole fabric of routine life and putting to halt the industrial units and transport in addition to ever-existing prices spiral. Main responsibility, of course, lies with the incumbent governments policy makers who lack farsighted approach to effectively realise the national energy needs and fail to curve out a sustainable policy to steer the country out of the present energy mess. Hydel power production in the country has seriously gone down mainly due to the less availability of water in rivers and dams, courtesy India, and high petrol prices or less availability of natural gas has shot up the thermal power production cost. Experts are of the opinion that the world is heading fast towards energy crisis due to rapid depletion of cheap oil and recommend minimizing dependence on fossil fuel. And now whatever the energy resources available are highly expensive or have already been acquired by the countries in better positions. While in Pakistan, the energy resources could not be achieved in sizeable and required quantity mainly due to delayed efforts. Subsequently, the energy crisis worsened and led to gradual stagnation of all means of industrial growth and national transport. Oil prices have crossed the limit while alternate sources of energy like biogas, solar energy and other sources are used for survival at domestic level. Ironically, the lack of short-term and long-term policies on the part of governments policy makers has triggered the energy crisis in the country. In the recent past, the country used to face power crisis normally in summer but now the same has stretched to this winter also. The policymakers apparently continue stressing upon building new dams, however, their stance completely fall flat whenever any effort is done to have consensus on this issue. The world progress in exploring alternative energy sources has proved that solar energy and windmill energy can also reduce the gravity of the energy crisis. Pakistan is lucky enough because the sun shines almost whole of the year in all its cities. Similarly, wind energy is abundantly available at its coastal areas. A couple of international organizations have already assessed the wind potential available along Pakistans coastal areas with estimates that this source can produce thousands of megawatt electricity. If these natural resources are used seriously, not only the energy crisis could soon be over but also it could play a significant role in reducing pollution ratio in the country. At this critical stage, the major responsibility again lies with the policymakers who need to hold some sense and adopt saner approach as the fast depleting deposits of natural gas and dying hydel power generation are absolutely unable to cater the fast increasing national energy needs.