Figures do not speak it all and all the time. But gometimea they do and In a most telling way The atatiatica of power generation and supply are one such measure of how the public life in general is being affected. According to a report, electricity supply falls short of its requirement in the Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority (DESA) area by at least one-sixth of the amount. The country's total requirement of this distribution-based energy has been estimated at 1.750 megawatt as .qgagnst the present production capacity of 1,400 megawatt. Naturally the Power Development Board (PDB) has been forced to ration Its supply of power. The DESA area has to be satisfied with 100 megawatt less and in the same token the cut on power supply to the south and north of the country is by 99 and 95 megawatt respectively. Even more importantly. 16 out of 28 power generation units now remain shut for repair, refurbishing and overhauling.

These gre however only cold figures. Compared to the sufferings and loss people and industries are being subjected to as a result of the frequent disruption of power, these figures look rather innocuous. And all the excuses made by the authority are simply cold comfort for the victims. That •It is the lean season and the water level of Captai Lake would fall below the standard mark is common knowledge. Repair and overhauling works, to our knowledge, take place tn phases and this cannot Ignore the effects it might have on the consumers. After all. the consumers here pay one of the highest rates for electricity in the world. No excuse is enough when they pay so dearly and yet are subjected to intermittent power disruption. •

Against the backdrop of serious adverse impacts on industrial production, such a patchy system of power generation cannot be allowed to continue. In keeping with the principles of free-market economy the system has to be efficient and competitive to the extent that the Industries consuming power also become competitive internationally. Even the domestic consumption has to be as much trouble-free. But the agencies responsible for the production and distribution of power tend to behave in a most strange manner. The attitude is that they are doing people a favour and sometimes use the commodity as private property. This notion must go in the first place. Then, of course, the in-built deficiencies and corruption have to be strictly dealt with.

As we know, the World Bank stopped releasing funds for new power plants and the repair or overhauling of the aging ones unless the much maligned system loss could not be done away with. The WB pressure made the PDB and DESA get up from their slumber and the system loss actually recorded a fall for the first time. But that was a year back. Nothing is heard about this anymore. This points to the fact that the disease is curable and the establishment itself could be nurturing the ailment. Unless pushed too hard, it won’t mend its way. Most of the self-created problems can be solved if the system asserts it-seif.

There Is no reason to think that the system loos is endemic. Apart from a reasonable amotint of power lost in the process of generation and distribution, the unaccounted for yest is largely a result of the meter readers’ ingenuous concoc-tlon Then to ensure undisrupted power supply, a proper plan has to be put in place. The phased repair work has to be so planned that it does not cause any dislocation. And. build more units if the demand for electricity goes up.

All this will be only possible when the internal working becomes transparent and the system is made accountable for its service.