Power issue

Our first point is that we want to thank and congratulate the Adviser for Energy, Mr. Tapan Chowdhury, for being honest and frank while talking to journalists a few days back. No other Energy Adviser so far, as far as we can remember, has done this till now. According to a report published in your newspaper on May 19, the Adviser said "the country's only future option for alternative energy will be coal as the existing gas reserves are likely to be depleted by 2011 or 2012."

Many of our countrymen, particularly leaders of political and social organisations, often oppose use of both gas and coal for productive purposes including producing power, but never say how else we can solve our power shortage problems. We, therefore, have two particular questions for these leaders. If we do not exploit our resources to help the nation move forward then what should we do with them? Secondly, do they want that we import power from India?

We would request the government to use our gas and coal resources for solving the power problem, but to do so wisely.