The winter season has at last set in. But the loadshedding persists. This is one of the many 'gifts of the democratically elected civilian government. Since the PPP-led coalition came into power about one and half years ago, it has been decrying that the previous government (of PML-Q) had left huge outstanding dues of Rs 264 billion of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). They said unless those bills were paid, the loadshedding would persist. But the very concept of IPPs had been introduced by a previous PPP government of Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s. PPP has failed miserably to tackle the Frankenstein it had created itself in a previous avatar. General Musharrafs regime, in contrast, had handled the IPPs affairs very well barring a minor problem towards the end. No doubt, there was some loadshedding in Musharraf era too but mainly in summer months and that too for much smaller durations than the idle-all-day and blackout-all-night we have had this year. People are rightly wondering what has made PPP fail? Instead of opting for the construction of the multi-purpose Kalabagh dam, which alone can ensure power and water supply, the present government has introduced yet another novel idea, of the Rental Power Plants (RPPs). One just shudders to think what would happen when the RPPs also start acting up like the IPPs and the government is unable to control them either? -AMAAR BILAL, Lahore, October 22.