Problems are persistent even in the New Year
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Shafiqul Alam
New Year and new hope are related to one another. People celebrated the New Year Day under the Bangla calendar hoping that the problems of the previous year would be solved. But there is no sign of any significant change; rather, the old problems are persistent even in the new year. High prices of essentials coupled with gas and water supply crises in some areas and severe load-shedding even at late night, have become a part of our everyday life. Certainly, discontentment among people all over the country is increasing drastically and unfortunately. Despite the government's firm pledge to address such problems, it has not been successful to do anything solid in this respect. Rapid increase in the prices of food items has certainly eroded the purchasing power as well as living standard of the hardcore poor, government and non-government employees, industrial workers, the unemployed and the people with limited income. Food crisis and price escalation hit the poor and the vulnerable the hardest, as a large percentage of their income, in fact, is spent on food. Even though, the price-hike is observed all over the world but this situation in Bangladesh does often arise if there is massive hoarding by third hands who are aware of the international price level and are manipulating the market, in the hope of gaining as large a profit as they can. Food price monitoring is a safeguard measure of the government against food prices but its monitoring mechanism has failed to check the situation. If strict measures are not taken, we may face a daunting challenge in the coming days. The nation is now facing a severe energy crisis which is leading deterioration of the quality of daily life, disruption to factory production, and reduction of the volume of water available in Dhaka, threatening the country's overall development. These are issues of serious consequences. Coordinated actions are needed to overcome the situation. Though it is claimed that a significant amount of electricity has been added to the grid, our sufferings, in everyday life, present still a opposite picture. Many old power plants need to be overhauled as soon as possible; otherwise, the shortfall will only increase in the near future. The steps, taken by the government so far, are unable to meet the present power crisis, let alone the growing demand. Moreover, quick rental power Plants would eventually be a burden on the government due to the gap between purchased and sold prices. In the capital city of Dhaka, the crisis of safe water, which is a normal phenomenon, is severe. Water supplied by WASA is always far from quality and the worst thing is that the water, sold by various companies, is also not treated safe by many. Again, deteriorating state of law and order is being noticed by all concerned. Everyday newspapers and media cover the cases of eve-teasing, murder, violence, vandalism etc. Though progress in different sectors is well documented, crises plague the country today in almost all spheres of our lives. However, the present government, which came to the power two and a half years back with many ambitious agenda, has not yet been able to deliver up to its pledges. Now to deliver quick services and effective results, a drastic change is needed where a strong leadership is the pre-requisite. Another important factor is that nobody can solve the problems if he leads a smooth life and this is why the decision-makers should consider the cases of the poor as well as the lower middle class people. In the present context, even if the government fails to implement its entire agenda, it must invest its time and gives its attention, at least to some priority areas: controlling price hike, building power plants to mitigate power crisis, searching alternative sources of energy, building infrastructure and improving law and order situation. Above all, the accountability factor should be considered for timely execution of projects. Though there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, it is a long way to go to see that. Now it seems that, the Bengali New Year might be another year of old persistent problems, unless and until the government goes all about solving the nagging problems of wider concern to the people at large. It is still possible to fix the problems which are well documented and discussed in both print and electronic media. The writer, an engineer, can be reached at e-mail: shafiq@iidfc.com
New Year and new hope are related to one another. People celebrated the New Year Day under the Bangla calendar hoping that the problems of the previous year would be solved. But there is no sign of any significant change; rather, the old problems are persistent even in the new year. High prices of essentials coupled with gas and water supply crises in some areas and severe load-shedding even at late night, have become a part of our everyday life. Certainly, discontentment among people all over the country is increasing drastically and unfortunately. Despite the government's firm pledge to address such problems, it has not been successful to do anything solid in this respect. Rapid increase in the prices of food items has certainly eroded the purchasing power as well as living standard of the hardcore poor, government and non-government employees, industrial workers, the unemployed and the people with limited income. Food crisis and price escalation hit the poor and the vulnerable the hardest, as a large percentage of their income, in fact, is spent on food. Even though, the price-hike is observed all over the world but this situation in Bangladesh does often arise if there is massive hoarding by third hands who are aware of the international price level and are manipulating the market, in the hope of gaining as large a profit as they can. Food price monitoring is a safeguard measure of the government against food prices but its monitoring mechanism has failed to check the situation. If strict measures are not taken, we may face a daunting challenge in the coming days. The nation is now facing a severe energy crisis which is leading deterioration of the quality of daily life, disruption to factory production, and reduction of the volume of water available in Dhaka, threatening the country's overall development. These are issues of serious consequences. Coordinated actions are needed to overcome the situation. Though it is claimed that a significant amount of electricity has been added to the grid, our sufferings, in everyday life, present still a opposite picture. Many old power plants need to be overhauled as soon as possible; otherwise, the shortfall will only increase in the near future. The steps, taken by the government so far, are unable to meet the present power crisis, let alone the growing demand. Moreover, quick rental power Plants would eventually be a burden on the government due to the gap between purchased and sold prices. In the capital city of Dhaka, the crisis of safe water, which is a normal phenomenon, is severe. Water supplied by WASA is always far from quality and the worst thing is that the water, sold by various companies, is also not treated safe by many. Again, deteriorating state of law and order is being noticed by all concerned. Everyday newspapers and media cover the cases of eve-teasing, murder, violence, vandalism etc. Though progress in different sectors is well documented, crises plague the country today in almost all spheres of our lives. However, the present government, which came to the power two and a half years back with many ambitious agenda, has not yet been able to deliver up to its pledges. Now to deliver quick services and effective results, a drastic change is needed where a strong leadership is the pre-requisite. Another important factor is that nobody can solve the problems if he leads a smooth life and this is why the decision-makers should consider the cases of the poor as well as the lower middle class people. In the present context, even if the government fails to implement its entire agenda, it must invest its time and gives its attention, at least to some priority areas: controlling price hike, building power plants to mitigate power crisis, searching alternative sources of energy, building infrastructure and improving law and order situation. Above all, the accountability factor should be considered for timely execution of projects. Though there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, it is a long way to go to see that. Now it seems that, the Bengali New Year might be another year of old persistent problems, unless and until the government goes all about solving the nagging problems of wider concern to the people at large. It is still possible to fix the problems which are well documented and discussed in both print and electronic media. The writer, an engineer, can be reached at e-mail: shafiq@iidfc.com