Yesterday at university campus after finishing my class I have gone to toilet. After finishing my trade I faced an unwanted situation as there is no water supply to the toilet. As there is no alternative way I called one of my friends over cell phone to fetch a mineral water bottle to solve the problem. My friend was laughing any how at last I solved the problem. Can you imagine what a worst situation prevailing in our country specially Dhaka city.
SHORTAGE in supply of water, gas and electricity in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country has assumed alarming proportions. While gas crisis has been on for quite some time now, frequent power failures in recent times and consequent shortage in water supply have made life miserable for the people at large in the scorching heat. The situation is dire and desperate. The people experience it, the government admits it, yet there doesn’t seem to be any resolution to the crisis. No one seems to have any knowledge about the actual condition nor does anyone seemingly care about providing any details on how the government is planning to mitigate the crisis. The crisis, everyone knows and says, is mainly due because of years of accumulated failures, irresponsibility and incompetence of the successive governments. Every time a new government takes office, it laments how its predecessor has ravaged the utility sector throughout its tenure and has done absolutely nothing. While castigating of the previous regime goes on, the incumbent government very conveniently forgets to do its own bit to make the situation better. The Awami League-led government has not been any exception. More than a year has passed since its assumption of office, yet it has given little indication that it is trying to bring about positive changes in the utility services. While everyday we learn from news reports how people are demonstrating at different corners of the country demanding uninterrupted supply of power, water and gas, how students especially candidates of public examinations cannot concentrate in their studies because of routine power outages, how power failure is hampering boro cultivation prompting the farmers to go for demonstrations, how production in garment factories has declined almost 30 per cent lately due to gas and power shortage, the people at the helm of affairs appear hardly moved and perturbed.
Admittedly, the power and gas supply situation cannot be improved overnight; the people do not expect it, either. The people are aware that even if the government decides to commission a new power plant or initiate exploration for gas, it would take a while before they start getting benefits of such initiatives. What the people expect, however, is that their government would come up with public disclosure of the state of affairs in the utility services and what it plans to do to redress the situation. What they expect most is for their government to be responsive to their miseries and sincere in its efforts to mitigate their hardship. It is certainly time for the government to tell the people in clear terms where the country stands in terms of its water, electricity and gas supply situation. The government needs also to present them with a plan of action that it intends to follow in the days to come to improve the situation.
