Looks like we could have some of those in the very near future. The CEB and the Power and Energy minister says that power cuts would be the latest hype word very soon thats right forget cable tv, satellite tv, wi fi, wimax, Core 2 Duo the hippiest word would be “power cuts”.
And whose fault is it? It is all those successive governments (voted by us) who promised to work toward towards the progression of country ever since we got independence and some even suggested that we could give power to India. Thats right India!
There has been talk of power cuts whenever it does not rain and we start skipping monsoons but I wonder whether the time change had anything to do with the authorities trying to implement power cuts very soon this time since as far I know it rained heavily during the last year and this year it has not been that bad. Then again the rains in colombo will not help in any way since it has to rain in the hydro catchment areas.
The GMT + 6 according to what I hear did not only satisfy Dr. Arthur C. Clarke but it also reduced energy consumption than what it should have been but now due to the change back to GMT + 5:30 we have only made the situation worse with increased demand due to the increase of consumption over the years but also the additional demand brought about due to the time change.
Under GMT + 6 we have faced power cuts but not as severe as those under GMT + 5:30. The problem has been aggravated because the time was changed consulting astrologers and not consulting energy experts who would have been able to advice the authorities better.
Apr 10, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I am an Indian, & I can feel your frustration. But the cause of power shortages in India, & probably Lanka too, is Raj mindset of our rulers. They want to *permit* who can set power plant where, of how much capacity, using which technology, should sell to whom, at what price, who will be employed there, & of course “free power” to the constituency of ruler of the day. And distribution is worse, & has even more politician meddling.
If there is one experience from the India’s economic boom during last 10 years, it is this. To move from an economy of scarcity to that of plenty, you only need to get the government out of the way. No government is the best government. Only those sectors of India’s economy have boomed where the boom happened before the government noticed (& are now trying to kill the sectors – as in CAS for cable TV, education meddling for high tech, …), or where very reluctantly the babus have *began* yielding (telephony, air transport).
There is not much hope my friend, till we can get *less* government. Good luck.
Apr 10, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Unfortunately in this case we Sri Lankan cannot blame government for this. Electricity runs on government subsidiary and they are more than happy to develop that in to decent level so they can get that out of the way.
But it is our people in this island nation do not understand national need. When every time government tries to build a power plant we want to talk about nature and traditional village life and beautiful waterfall you may point to while you passing by in an AC car to Nuwaraelliya on holiday. It even turn in to most ridicules religious games too. Once a monk organizes a protest and sabotage one power plant proposal. Then Church wanted to show their power. Then Hindus wanted to show their powers. Then again monks wanted to show their power.
Hey. Why we complain about powercuts. We have bigger things to worry about. Like advertising and traditional sweets.
Apr 17, 2007 at 2:29 am
Nice blog!