Pakistan Views

The Senate on Wednesday continued to discuss energy crisis confronting the country with the members stressing the need for switching to alternate energy resources to meet the growing demand.Taking part in debate Dr Babar Awan said defaulters in Islamabad alone owed Rs 3.5 billion to Wapda in arrears.The senator said they were ‘holy cows’ and therefore, could not be touched. He said it was not fair to make common man pay for their fault in the form of electricity surcharge.He said the list of these defaulters should be placed before the House.He called for withdrawing the facility of providing hundreds of litres of petrol free of cost to executive and judicial bureaucracy.He also pointed out that not only the officers of Wapda but the lower staff too was engaged in the theft of electricity.”The workers of Wapda sell these (stolen) units of electricity in the market.”
Babar demanded the non-development expenditures of the executive authorities should not be paid. Giving suggestion to improve power crisis in the country, he said the business community should be compelled to observe weekly holiday, which presently they hardly do. He said 65 percent of the total water is misused and stressed the need for evolving water conservation plan.He also called for holding debate in the house on Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).Abdul Rahim Mandokhel in his speech said that hydel electricity could be produced at low cost but unfortunately no new hydel project was set up in Pakistan during the last 40 years.Haji Adeel said the government should concentrate on constructing small dams to meet local electricity needs.He cited the case of Iran and said small hydel projects produce 75 per cent of electricity in that country.He said Balochistan has great potential for providing solar energy while Sindh can be produce it from wind.