KARACHI, May 13: Power failures continued to occur on Monday as the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation finally threw up its hands in horror and said that in case of a power shortage it would resort to loadshedding.
Sources in the KESC centralized complaint centre, better known as 118, said complaints of power shutdowns had been received from Korangi, North Karachi, Defence, Clifton, Shabbirabad, Federal B Area, Banglore Town, PECHS, Sindhi Muslim Society, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Saddar, Garden East, New Karachi, Society and Garden West.
Calling from Banglore Town, Mohammad Iqbal Khan told Dawn his locality had been without electricity since 9am on Monday. “It is criminal on the part of the KESC to deprive us of power so long. My father is an old man who becomes very agitated whenever a power shutdown occurs,” he said.
A very angry resident of Federal B Area, Block 18, recounted his tale of woes to Dawn. He said: “For the past one month, we have been facing power shutdowns. The KESC says there is a cable fault in the area. It does not specify how long it will take to remove the fault. Yesterday, winds blew at a speed normal than usual, resulting in snapping of some wires on Sunday somewhere. When I contacted my complaint centre, the attendant said a KESC vehicle would shortly visit the area and reconnect the wires. The KESC vehicle came, reconnected the wires and left. After ten minutes, the wires came off again. This time the KESC vehicle did not come so promptly.”
Sami Hussain called from PECHS, Block 2, at 6.30pm and told Dawn that his locality had been without electricity since 5am.
A resident of Saddar said the entire area was facing intermittent power closures since morning.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 14, saidhis area had faced three power closures, each lasting at least an hour. He added that he had contacted 118 three times and he had been given an identical reply — that it had been a localized fault.
A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauher, Block 17, said his apartment — Shumail Arcade — had developed a different fault. “Some flats in my apartment have electricity while some are without it,” he said.
A resident of North Nazimabad, Block J, said his locality had been without electricity the previous night.
A resident of Korangi, K-area market, said his locality faced intermittent power shutdowns at least seven times a day. “Our regional complaint centre has a standard response to power complaints. They say there is a cable fault. But neither a cable fault can be removed in 45 minutes to an hour nor does it occur seven times a day. The KESC complaint centres should be truthful about power shutdowns.”
