The PML-N government is coming in for a lot of stick for the hike in power rates and their spokespersons are trying their best to justify the hike but fail to mention the genesis of the problem, the energy policy of 1944 which made the country totally dependent on oil, not realizing that the cheaply available oil at $10 per barrel would one day cost $100 per barrel. The IPPs should have been for the short term and a mega hydel project initiated for the long term. The million dollar question is why was construction of Kalabagh dam, not commenced?
Today we would have been getting 3600 megawatts from Kalabagh dam, 4500 megawatts from Bhasha dam and work would have been in hand on Skardu dam. The people have a right to know who is responsible for this criminal neglect which has pushed the country into Dante’s inferno. Coal, solar or wind energy will not give us water, water is food and food is life.
ENGR KHURSHID ANWER,
Lahore, October 03