Domestication of Natural Resources – A Waste
20 July, 2011
By Farooq K. Qazi
There have been debates across many circles of media, student bodies and government bodies highlighting the blockade or reduction in Natural Gas supply to Punjab. This has many a times been dubbed and labeled as a theft of Punjab’s rights. It’s not a matter of theft of Punjab`s share or anything. That in fact is a serious racist and fascist argument. If there is a right on the Natural Gas reserves that are there in the country on the basis of race/creed then the first and foremost right is that of the Baluch people. Despite the fact that this is my ancestral home, why should Lahore have all the luxury of having gas run kitchens while none of the cities and towns in Baluchistan has that facility? Quetta is the only city where there is Gas now. That too happened just a while back. Baluch people have been living off of wood (also pretty scarce) and the elite well-off Baluch on LNG Cylinders.
My whole argument is based around stopping the domestication of Natural Gas. If Punjab uses the natural resources just for the industry, it might be acceptable as it would be contributing to the economy as a whole in its true sense. But when every car is being run on CNG and every household is running heaters on Gas 24/7 and cooking food for hours at a stretch for at least 2 times a day. This is INJUSTICE and ridiculous. We are wasting our natural resources for commuting from Gulberg to Liberty to M.M.Alam to Work and Back. We`re wasting 5-7 KGs of Natural Resources every 3 days at max 2 days if we plan out a dinner with friends too. I waste 15 - 18 KGs of natural resources in a month. And my commuting is just from Kalma Chowk to Pizza Hut on M M Alam road. That is hardly 4.5 Km. so at an average, I drive 9 Km daily. Can we even think of this behavior as reasonable and justified? No Sir. We`re the ones wrong here.
Throughout the world, there are abundant natural gas reserves in many countries. None of the countries use the Gas in Kitchens or Cars. Not even Russia or the UK, at least they were not doing it about ten years back. They have the greatest intensities of cold on the planet yet manage to have centrally heated buildings. Not from GAS but from Electricity. Natural Gas is only dedicated for the industrial use as it reduces the cost of production by manifolds. This contributes to the economy as a whole. That in turn contributes to more electricity generation from indisputably un-depletable resources such as wind, solar and water. Yes! The world is moving fast towards alternative renewable resources of energy. We should follow suit and start working on Solar and Wind energy. Some corporations are already working on Wind power projects. And thankfully these are local corporations. We should avoid the hurdles of PC-1, PC-2 or whatever junk government SOPs for projects are there and focus on the betterment of the people and the country. Not for immediate relief but for a prosperous future. For now, Coal is a farfetched thing to even think of. I have my fears regarding the Thar Coal. This ‘Coal’ reserve might also get used up like ‘Colas’.
I had once written to the CM Punjab a suggestion that every school/college/university should be barred to have their own parking lot. They should be strictly instructed to disallow any private vehicles within 3 KMs of the school premises. No student shall come on a private car to a school with a driver to get dropped off. The only vehicle allowed inside the school will be the school bus itself. Such a legislation would conserve a lot of energy and environment as right now 80% of the traffic on the Lahore roads is Pick’n’Drop service. One Car-One Child habit should be discouraged. The Car Pooling habits shall be encouraged at a Govt. level. This act would also promote equality of class amongst the new breed of Pakistanis. There will be a sense of equality that shall prevail in our future generations. I am yet to get even a confirmation whether the CM even got my mail or not. Let’s hope the message/suggestion reaches him through your paper. Many people might not agree with this suggestion and they have a right to disagree. But at least a discussion should be initiated on this. It will be tough for all of us once the CNG is closed for ALL OF US. But at least our future generations will not be living in the conditions as worse as ours. They would learn to conserve their resources. They would learn that from us.
I have faith that if Lahore alone passes this law and enforces it, we might see a clear difference. The prices of the petro products would come down to a global average and the economy would get a shoulder of support which it direly needs.
I don’t deny the rightful apprehensions I’ve heard of in different circles of the society, as far as Big Project - Big Kick-Backs facts are concerned. I call it racist to think that you are flourishing and have industry and agriculture so you have the right to more than those who produce the resource. That is Capitalism as far as my little understanding is concerned. And Capitalism is dying world over. The US Economic bubble burst due to this Capitalist system. And guess what the US Military HUMVEEs are now `Made in China` as GM was bought out by China after it declared bankruptcy. But if you think it’s not racist, I take my words of racism back and stick to the facts alone.
Talking about thieves and never correct oneself is the norm of the day in our society. This is something I’m tired of and I don’t want to hear from the masses anymore. They have to change their own fate. Change it by Hook or by Crook.
The premise of large industry gets large shares is also wrong. It is wrong Economically, Scientifically as well as morally. Baluchistan would never rise up from its current state because they will never get their due share as they don’t have water resources for agriculture and don’t have industry to prosper and develop. Now if they don’t have any of those, why would they need gas? I believe this is wrong.
Countries who do not have privileges to be sitting on top of even a quarter of the resources that we have are more worried than us and use the Natural Gas for strictly a couple of industries and not all of them. Their governments get in fist fights in the parliament over this issue as to why this industry and not any other one. And the industry that they power with Natural Gas is only Defense Production Units. Not the FMCGs or MNCs or the Textile. This is so because they know how critical self reliance in Defense is and how important Defense is for the nation. And they have a national interests’ based policy chalked down by themselves and not foreign dictates. And they`re willing to take a couple of fists on their left and right for that.
I urge to Stop Domestication of the Natural Resources. Not out of the fear that these resources are depleting, but because they`re being misused at a negligible cost being paid against it. This is because people and the managers of people don’t know, don’t realize or maybe don’t want to know or realize the real worth of such burning air.
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