Pakistan is witnessing the worst ever power crisis that is affecting all sectors of the economy and various segments of the society. Close scrutiny of this crisis would suggest we will have to take effective measures on urgent basis in order to avoid any further crises. According to reports, there is an acute shortage of 3000MW of electricity and by the end of 2010 it will be further enhanced to 5050MW. The existing power crisis is blamed on the previous government which had not paid attention to it. Now it is incumbent upon the newly installed government to pay proper attention to it and devise innovative methods to tackle it. Pakistan is replete with renewable energy resources, especially wind and solar energy, and these have not been used since the time immemorial. We have enormous deposits of coal in the desert of Thar (probably the third largest in the world) which will be productive for many decades. The government of Pakistan should put emphasis on use of these vast deposits while putting up power plants in future. -ISHFAQUE AHMED RUSTAMANIM, Dadu, via e-mail, April 25.