KARACHI: Political parties are claiming to end load-shedding in the country within a span of two to three years. Hearing these tall claims, I decided to get accurate information from the KESC. So, I sent a tweet to KESC from my Twitter account, asking, “Why is load-shedding carried out? Is it a production capacity issue or circular debt?”
The KESC representative promptly replied: “KESC has full production capacity. It is the circular debt and shortage of gas supply, which is the problem.”
If we keep the issue of gas supply aside, the main issue is of the circular debt. Whose duty was it to recover payments of bills from consumers, to control line losses and remove illegal connections, to take electricity thieves to task? Had the utility companies and the government performed their duty in this regard, Pakistan would have never faced this era of darkness. No one took any action against the defaulters of KESC, particularly government institutions and influential people (read politicians).
This is the truth about load-shedding in Pakistan. If the government clears the dues of certain state-owned institutions, this can help in enabling prompt and smooth supply of furnace oil for electricity production, and load-shedding can end in even two to three days.
M Rafique Zakaria
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2013.
