The nation suffered its worst power blackout on ; Saturday as a result of a transformer in the । Ashuganj bursting out of commission at noon that day. The interdependence between one generation j and distribution system and the other in our | power sector was perhaps never belter illustrated. ■ Energy Minister Nooruddin Khan's observation was a study in obviousness. It was a,mechanical failure, machines do faH at crucial -times. JPewer-collapse on this scale has happened before, the minister said consoling perhaps himself. And Power Secretary Towfiq Elahi Chowdhury has in effect cleared our misgiving as to how one single transformer's failure can cut off almost 1200 MW of energy by explaining about the cascading effect of tripping turbines. These and a myriad other explanations, however, should not be good enough to make us accept that such an accident — or accidents — is built into the power thing and we better be prepared for a repeat performance in two or five or ten years' time. In civilized societies there's isn't a power cessation for even a moment for decades on end. We use the same machines, don't we? So?

Machines have to be maintained and modernised and replaced as a matter of continual process. These must not be allowed to approach the bursting point. Now that this huge thing has happened — to so much cost in national production loss and domestic suffering and dislocation, the technical-managerial key persons would surely network the systems in such a manner that the bursting together of no one two or three transformers can disrupt power on such a massive scale. If imponderables cannot be wholly banished, one can very well have arrangements to take the shock and overcome the harm.

Every time you need a plant or some big component of it you have to fabricate it from nil. That should be the reason why one should not be allowed to be caught unprepared in these things. Maintain well and that includes timely overhaul and even replacement. And have provisions at the ready to minimise the effect of any accident that may occur even after best of maintenance. Let us agree that our energy people have been found wanting on both these counts. And let us expect that such an eventuality will not be repeated. The lesson of May 3, 1997 should be well-learnt.