Every hour, on the hour
The above caption could be a marvellous promotional slogan for a transportation company to proclaim their punctuality and level of service. But I have chosen the above to describe the ever-fleeting entity of our life, Dhaka, electricity. To be good to its name, it comes and goes with electrifying speed; and with a perpetual sense of regularity and punctuality.
Yes, it comes and goes at a regular interval --- every hour and on the hour. If you are even with the idea, you might get electricity say at even hours of 0600hrs, 0800hrs, 1000hrs --- 2200hrs, 0200hrs, 0400hrs and so forth. In other words, you will be without it exactly at 0700hrs, 0900hrs, 1100hrs --- 2300hrs, 0100hrs, 0300hrs. But look! You are at odds. Just think of your ceiling fan going off at 0100hrs, coming back at 0200hrs and departing at 0300hrs when you are in deep slumber or trying to catch a sleep in the sultry summer nights. Loss of power at 1100hrs is odd enough, at 0100hrs is odder and 0300hrs is the oddest.
The system is overloaded, hence some load has to be shed. And the system is over loaded because we produce less than what we use or wish to use. Fair enough. And the problem can't be fixed overnight! Then one night's loss of sleep would go without a whimper. Let us only hope that the problem is fixed in the next one thousand and one nights! That's little less than three years. But what one fails to understand is that with the Boro Crops safely at home and the water pumps enjoying a period of hibernation (good night's sleep) where has the power gone.
The latest theory says that we don't have enough gas to run the power stations. While we were once supposed to float on gas, now we are starving for it. We have a huge reserve of coal but we cannot decide whether to go for open pit, close pit or gasification system. Why don't we try all the three! Given our mindset, this filibustering could go on for years and nights together till we reach the brink, since we are so good at playing brinkmanship! Let's go for it.
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