Like it is said in America “stupid, it is the economy,” we in Pakistan are entrapped in wishing for thermal, solar, coal and wind, as alternate sources of energy while the water flowing beneath our feet has a potential of 44,000 MW of power as a byproduct of storing God given water. However the government is seized with all sorts of novel ideas for producing energy including bio gas while not a sane view is raised for exploiting the hydel energy which is dirt cheap. The deaf and dumb faces of our leaders betray a sense of either height of ignorance or downright anti people polices that would drag us into a bottomless pit of hefty loans from IMF that we will have to pay though our nose.
Why are our leaders so reluctant to consider the very idea of a mega hydroelectric dam like Kalabagh dam? It can be a treasure trove for the whole nation. There appears to be wretched ingratitude on the part of our rulers in not exploiting God given hydel resources while they gleefully think of importing coal as energy from India in a new found love for our eternal enemy.–
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI,
Lahore, September 16.