The situation on the loadshedding front continues to worsen, as 30 Independent Power Producers warned on Monday that they would cut off 7700MW of electricity in a week if their dues to the tune of Rs 150 billion out of a total of Rs 210 billion were not paid by the PEPCO. Their dilemma is understandable. Chairman Independent Power Producers Advisory Council, Abdullah Yousuf, explained that the IPPs have already exhausted all credit limits of banks and now have no cash to run the power plants. The electricity produced by the IPPs is more than 50 percent of what the country is producing and in case the PEPCO fails to pay them the money it owes them, they would, as they maintain, go on strike. And the entire country would suffer the consequences. It is a pity that rather than controlling the supply and demand gap the government is itself aggravating the situation. There also have been reports about corruption and bad governance plaguing PEPCO, something that explains why the crisis continues to get worse by the hour. It is, moreover, a crying shame that in the holy month of Ramazan, contrary to the promise of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the menace of unscheduled loadshedding is going on putting to inconvenience the faithful especially during times of Iftar and Sehar. This amounts to deliberately testing the patience of the people and provoking them to take to the streets. In fact, protests and demonstrations have already become a daily occurrence and only show the popular resentment against the government. With the situation getting out of control, it is incumbent upon the federal setup to ensure that the overdue amount is paid to the IPPs. It must at the same time devise a comprehensive plan to cope with the power crunch, especially turning to hydel power to produce cheap electricity. And there is no doubt that in this category, there is no better option than Kalabagh Dam, whose feasibility study was prepared and approved years ago. It is up to the present dispensation to remove all political roadblocks.