Editorial
Casualness in public statements
More responsibility and respect for facts are expected of national leaders
THE Opposition leader in parliament Begum Khaleda Zia in her speech at Barisal has accused the government of creating artificial power crisis. While criticising the present ruling party Awami League for its failure on many fronts, she further averred that the government's policy to buy electricity from India was tantamount to handing over the key of our power to that country.
One wonders if the leaders of our country make statements at public meetings only to pander to the fears and prejudices of the gullible audience! How without substantiating their claims with facts for a change?
It sounds rather strange that a national leader who had done her stint in power twice as prime minister now passes the buck conveniently to the incumbent government when it comes to the crisis of power. Can she deny the fact that the ongoing power crisis is a legacy of her own government? For during her last stint in power, the total power produced in the country was around 3,000 MW against the demand for the same at 3650 MW.
So, she herself left a shortfall of 650 MW. Considering that the demand for power increases at the rate of 10 per cent of the total demand at a certain time, when she left office the demand for power had already increased by an additional 365 MW. Or in other words, when the next government took office a demand of over 4,000 MW was already created.
Moreover, contracts for most of the newly installed power plants such as the 450 MW Meghnaghat power plant and the 360 Mw Haripur plant that came into operation in her time were signed during the previous Awami League government. The only exception was the 80 MW Tongi power project which, too, was completed in March 2005 and came into production one year and a half later after going through a number of glitches in production.
So, her claim that the present power crisis is artificial does not stand to fact.
In the present context, on the other hand, the different power plants produce around 4,000 MW of power, while the total demand is around 5400 MW, officially, though unofficially it is around 6200 MW. To meet this growing demand the present government is diversifying the sources of power from gas to other options such as coal, nuclear power and green energy. It is also looking for the prospect of importing some 500 MW power from neighbouring India through a bilateral deal.
The fact that the country is at the moment going through an acute power crisis is too obvious to be missed by the opposition leader.
But in her characteristic attitude towards India, she has again expressed fear and opposed import of power from India. Is she not aware of how EU and ASEAN countries share power sources for their mutual benefit?
Can we not expect more respect for facts and responsibility from our national leaders when they make public statements? For half-truths are worse than lies.
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