Failure of power sector: stop the blame game

It was only recently that the Senate Standing Committee on Power on unbraided the top brass of Power Division for shifting burden of their “incompetence” on to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with respect to electricity losses, theft and massive under recovery, final burden of which is being passed on to those consumers who pay their bills, or made part of the circular debt. According to a Business Recorder report,

“the Committee had also expressed its ire on the poor capacity of those officers who failed to provide required information or elaborate/clarify to the satisfaction of its members. The Committee was concerned at the inflated electricity bills due to which people are on the roads. Power Division officials maintained that the entire society, including government, is responsible for failure of power sector.”

The foregoing clearly explains the current power situation that has been becoming uglier by the day. But the government or its Power Division cannot wash its hands off or disclaim responsibility for the power sector mess.

Successive governments, in fact, have presided over the destruction of the power sector through sheer lack of competence, massive corruption and abject absence of farsightedness.

That the government always tries to pass the buck and people are sick of it is a fact. Insofar as the power sector officials’ contention is concerned, society too has a role in the failure of power sector.

Woeful high incidence of power theft is, of course, a strong case in point. But the question is how to fix the mess as early as possible, although implementing reforms is likely to be a long haul? The current caretaker setup in the country is expected to improve the situation mainly because of the fact that it does not risk losing any political capital. Last but not least, we often elect to play the blame game but that isn’t very constructive.

Zafar Ali Shah,

Islamabad

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023