The current heatwave in Karachi has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. To be exact over 450 people have reportedly been dead. The numbers are alarmingly high that policy makers must be wondering what went wrong.
It is true that mercury has touched one of the highest levels in the history of metropolitan city, but unprecedented unannounced load shedding, shortage of water particularly during the holy month of Ramazaan, became the reasons of these deaths. It is high time that our political leaders need to prioritize bridging gap of demand and supply of electricity. Had the incumbent government fulfilled the pre-election promises to find solutions to the energy crisis, precious life loss could have been averted.
Allocating hefty amount of budget for betterment of infrastructure facilities holds importance. But investing on energy projects to control load shedding contains the highest value. After the deaths of Karachities in shockingly high numbers, there is no doubt left that generating enough electricity for the masses must be the top most priority of the government. Prior to investing on the likes of metro bus projects, we must realize our basic needs and form our priorities accordingly. We are a nation struggling to meet the supply and demand of electricity, which has been resulted in vast economic damages.
There is also need to invest with vision. Government spent millions on advertisement of Nandipur Power Project and made tall claims about the project but the claims proved nothing more than mere hollow slogans as this project was producing only 20% of its electricity generating capacity and that too on very high rates. It seems Neelum Jhelum Hydro Project is in progress since a very long time and difficult to say how many more years it would take to be able to generate electricity.
Considering the grave issue of power shortage, the next election is likely to be settled the said issue.
