The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE country is passing through a serious shortage of electricity. The maximum generation of electricity is about 3,500 megawatt against the peak hour demand of nearly 5,500 MW. The demand has to be met through load shedding for which life of the people has become inconvenient. Industrial production is being seriously hampered. Further development of industries have a challenge for the acute shortage of power. The demand for power is increasing every day. It is not desirable that the economy and development of the country will be hampered due to its shortage. So the country is in dire necessity of augmenting power production. But no immediate solution of the problem is in sight.

More than eighty percent of power generation depends on natural gas. But the country at present faces a shortage of 200 million cubic feet of gas against a demand for 2000 mmcfd. The proven gas reserve is estimated to exhaust by 2011 unless new gas fields are developed and added to the national grid. Such an alarming situation underscores the need for quick extraction of coal as the main alternative energy resource that the country has at its disposal. But a debate over coal mining method impedes the process. The debate is on how to extract the coal: through the underground cave method or the open-pit method. An effective and environment friendly coal mining method should be adopted in right earnest. The method must ensure economic extraction of maximum possible coal but surely not at the cost of livelihood of lakhs of people and the environment. Relocation of people and environmental disaster must be avoided as far as possible. The project itself must have built-in arrangements for the rehabilitation of those facing relocation.