Pilferage of power, wastage of gas

Just have a look at hundreds of wayside shops along the Baitul Mukarram Mosque, Gulistan, New Market, Uttara, Banani, Gulshan and other urban areas using thousands of bulbs to put their goods on display. There are hundreds of thousands of such shops in 63 other districts consuming electricity illegally. But does anybody in the Dhaka City Corporation or the Power Development Board or the power distribution companies inquire wherefrom these shops get electricity? Are these legal? Do they pay any tariff?

The country cannot simply afford such pilferage or wastage of power at a time when some other South Asian countries witness a slowdown in their economies due to acute electricity shortage. And illegal power connections are galore in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. In rural areas, battery-run autos use electricity illegally.  

Why do the street lights in Dhaka city remain switched on when these are not needed after sunrise. Can't these lights be run by solar energy? This is possibly because none in the state entities cares about energy savings which could meet the need of consumers.

According to a study by the Power Cell, the city corporation staffs ignore turning the street lamps off and on timely. A total of 71,276 street lamps in the city use 7 megawatts per hour and 420MW per month. The current cost of generating each unit of power is Tk 6.5. It costs the two city corporations Tk 3.4 million a month. And it was found that timely switching off and on of street lights could meet power needs of 4,000 rural households.  

Why street lights alone? Just think of precious gas Bangladesh is gifted with. In many homes, gas burners go on burning with none to switch those off as the monthly rates are fixed. None appears to be patriotic enough to imagine that such wastage of gas is also leading to fast depletion of our gas reserve.

It is still mysterious as to why the Energy Ministry or for that matter the Titas Gas Distribution Company could not still install gas meters in every home fitted with gas line. The pilot project in this regard has reportedly been successful but the authorities are yet to make it public why they are still taking time to provide such gas meters in every household using gas.

None bothers about such a gross misuse and pilferage of power or wastage of gas nor are the state entities taking proper steps to stop this. If they don't, who will?

arjayster@gmail.com