Another low in governance
This time the countrywide blackout owed to militants blowing up a key transmission line somewhere around Sibi. But this was the fouth major breakdown in the last one month alone, and while the government has repeatedly mentioned transmission overload, tripping and terrorism as reasons, it seems to have completely overlooked circular debt, corruption, infrastructure mismanagement and, above all, misgovernance. Federal secretary (water and power) Younus Thakkar’s ‘clarification’ was not very reassuring either. Aren’t security and supply chain management government responsibility as well? It must provide security to the entire infrastructure. And considering how the problem lingers, why are steps still “being taken” to provide “at least two alternate grid stations”?
Assurances that talk of furnace oil shortage is exaggerated, too, cannot be taken at face value anymore? All the while the government promised getting a handle on the power problem, it only got worse. Then assurances of steady gas supply proved hollow. And now the fuel drama has all but eroded its credibility. There is every reason to fear that oil supply problems would have affected furnace oil as well.
All this while, of course, the problems that the government brushes under the carpet continue to grow. It has no action plan of dealing with the circular debt, especially since the last ‘bright idea’ backfired, and remains shrouded in mystery and suspicion. It seems the government has formed a habit of running into self-created problems. But its increasing incompetence has now angered the electorate. The only reason they are without electricity, gas and fuel is the government’s inability to do its basic job, which is unforgivable. Instead of sleepwalking into problem after problem, and then investing their energies in denying responsibility rather than finding solutions, PML-N leaders must realise how they are pushing the country, and themselves, into a black hole. Saturday night’s power breakdown was the worst yet, and it marks another low in the government’s record.
