Wastage -- the enervating trend

Mindless wastage sometimes emerges as a national trait -- be the scenario a developed country like the USA or a developing country like Bangladesh. In the former case, the people are generally termed wasteful. They can afford it smoothly, because the nation has resources. Still cautions are in the air: No source of anything precious and essential for survival is inexhaustible. More often than not, the wise words are said to fall on deaf ears. Yet a land of abundance like the USA can cope with it. Can Bangladesh afford it?

In the country's urban centres, wastefulness pervades almost all civic areas. The menace is as nakedly present in the public sector as in the private one. The people remain comfortably oblivious to the fact that ours is one of the poorer countries in the world. In the earlier times, the big cities used to demonstrate their cavalier attitude towards the use of tap water supplied by government agencies. Apart from the irresponsibility in the household use of water, water taps left turned on in public places were a common scenario. Scarcity of water during summer became a regular feature. As a consequence, the authorities may have felt it to be high time they installed water-meters. These would show prices for the water used by households. The roadside public taps were taken away. In spite of all this, misuse of water continues in Bangladesh cities. With the wasteful water-use brought under a semblance of administrative control, enter gas and electricity.

The atrocious misuse of natural gas in the country has virtually been a national malady since some large cities and towns were connected commercially to the underground resource. The wastage of the natural gas supplied for domestic use is a tale filled with the evils of irresponsibility and utter unconcern. While using the once-abundant gas recklessly few have ever thought of the consequences: the possible depletion of the national resource. Keeping the gas burner open for hours on end just to save a matchstick turned out to be a normal spectacle in the urban areas. The profligacy on the part of the people in general ended up in the enforcement of stringent restraints. The measures included placing of gas meters and wholesale disconnection of phony gas lines. Piped natural gas has lately become a virtual holy grail. Things would not have come to this pass, had the gas consumers applied their prudence in using the national resource. The truth is, despite the corrective steps, though belated, Bangladesh has been made to brace for a grim future. Gas reserves are declining fast.  Days may not be that far when piped gas will become a topic from the nation's halcyon days. The reckless use of electricity was another largely followed practice in the country's cities. It existed even a few years ago. The concomitant corrupt means to hide the offence would only add to the obnoxious style of electricity use. The authorities cannot be expected to sit idle. In order to stem the rot, they have started installing prepaid cards for use of domestic electricity in Dhaka. Wastage of power, a euphemism for stealing --- and meter-tampering may soon become things of the past. To speak caustically, the harsh remedial steps are a comeuppance. Remedial actions to check wastage in the private sector are far more severe.

Be it in a community, a society or a nation, wastefulness ends up being the harbinger of decadence. In cases, the decaying process takes longer time than usual. History has seen how wasteful empires or regimes go on declining. Many democracies are also not free of this curse.

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