A three-in-one crisis

The picture is dismal and likely to worsen into the summer. Usually such problems wouldn't arise all at the same time, but this time the services appear to be crumbling simultaneously. Load-shedding made the plight of students appearing at the SSC exams miserable. The suffering of patients also knows no bound. Furthermore, power-cuts have had a crippling effect on the working of WASA pumps which, in turn, aggravated the already precarious water supply. People have also complained of poor quality water, obviously is a health hazard.

As for supply of gas, this has been erratic for quite a few years, but this year it has turned critical.

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There is reportedly a deficit of around 2000-megawatt electricity in the country as 19 power generation units are not functioning at the moment. Some of the power generation plants have been hit by shortage of gas as fuel. So crisis in one sector is affecting another.

Overall, the situation calls for urgent redress. Obviously, the authorities concerned -- the power and energy ministries and WASA -- need to make sure that the crisis does not degenerate into a law and order situation as it has already in some places outside Dhaka. Is any hardship mitigation plan in place? People have a right to know what the utility authorities are doing to alleviate their suffering. It is certainly not enough for men in authority to say that things are going wrong in this or that area. That's not what they are there for, they should feel obliged to deliver services to the citizens without any excuse.