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Taking the power crisis head-on

Development on a fast track, which is what is intended by the Government's 100-day plan for national revival, requires every citizen of this country to do his or her duty with extra zeal and enthusiasm. To some, this may seem a daunting challenge, but top-speed development necessitates, first and foremost, a fundamental change in worker attitudes and approaches to living. In short, the people are obliged, at this juncture, to endow themselves with a mindset which could facilitate the development process at an accelerated pace. Positive thinking is the need of the hour.

We are compelled to think on these things on being given to understand that some engineers attached to the Ceylon Electricity Board have expressed reservations on the Government's ability to deliver the goods, as far as the country's power and energy needs are concerned, within the limited time-frame it has set for itself. Certainly, there are bound to be practical obstacles to the achievement of these targets, but it is exactly for these reasons that the achievement of self-sufficiency in the power and energy field should be described as a challenge. A challenge, by its very nature, is an undertaking which requires extraordinary skill, ability, courage and enthusiasm for its accomplishment.

We hope this would be understood by all sections of the personnel at the CEB. On their ability to cooperate with the Government in this great undertaking, depends their prestige and good name. The stuff that we are made of is tested only in crises and not otherwise.

Resolving the power crisis, however, is not only a task for the Government and the CEB. There are ways in which almost every citizen could help in bringing it to an end. We have dwelt before on the need to exercise economies in the use of power by all categories of power consumers. The individual consumer, for instance, is obliged to use power sparingly. Bulbs, fans and electrical appliances shouldn't be used wastefully. Likewise corporate consumers could do away with inessential structures such as neon signs at night, which consume power in considerable quantities.

Consumers should also seriously consider switching over to energy saving devices such as fluorescent bulbs. The Government is obliged to advise the public on some of these energy-saving expedients and to sell them the necessary appliances at concessionary prices.

Years of sluggishness have certainly taken their toll on the morale of the people. Some sections do not seem to see the opportunities inherent in problems. Defeating defeatism is one of our prime challenges. We hope the educational authorities would address their minds to this issue as well. For thinking positively begins in school. Young minds need to be nourished by it.

• Editorial of  The Observer - Valentine, so-called 15.02.2002:
  

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