KARACHI, June 8: Despite being a holiday, Sunday saw a large number of power breakdowns with the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation failing to supply electricity to its consumers even on a day, when power demand is comparatively less.

Sources working in the centralized complaint centre told Dawn that they had received complaints of power breakdowns and faults from many areas of the city.

Ashraf Khan complained from Defence, Phase-2 Extension. He said that the army in the KESC had ruined the power supply system. “The entire country is in the grip of a heatwave. Everyday, we read reports of people dying of heat. Why is it that in Karachi, power supply becomes elusive as soon as mercury goes up,” he said.

A resident of Defence, Phase-6, said that the previous night they had experienced a power shutdown from 9pm to 1am. He said, “Calling our regional complaint centre is of little consequence. We never get proper response from the regional complaint centre of the KESC. I remember that high-ranking KESC officials have said that the amount of revenue collected by the power utility from this locality is considerable. Still the power utility, knowing that it has captive consumers, does little to serve them well.

Another resident of the same locality said that they had been facing a water shortage because of prolonged power shutdowns. “Whenever there is a power cut, we cannot use our electric pump for water. This naturally creates a water shortage for which the water department is not responsible. This is however not to say that water supply in Defence is remarkable. It has its own faults,” he said.

Shoaib Khan, who called from Sector 11-B of North Karachi, said that he had no idea why the KESC has its website, when it had no interest in the complaints. “Through the KESC website, he sent an email to the KESC chief, pointing it out that I could help the KESC staff find those illegal connections which deprive the power utility of a great amount of revenue every month. I received no reply from the KESC managing director. I did not even receive any acknowledgement,” he added.

He informed that when he called the KESC managing director, he was told by his personal secretary that the managing director was too busy to attend a call of a consumer. “No action was taken by the KESC on the tip-off that I had provided,” he said.

The KESC was still losing revenue to power thieves. “If the KESC chief has little interest in removing illegal connections, what does he remain busy with at his office?” he wondered.

Kazim Malik, a resident of Sector 11-A of North Karachi, # opposite Sanober Cottages, said that his locality had faced a prolonged power breakdown the previous night. He added that the telephone numbers of his regional complaint centre were engaged throughout the night.

The sources told Dawn that Block 4 in Nazimabad had experienced a prolonged power breakdown on Saturday night. “Complaints had been lodged by area residents almost as soon as the power breakdown and we told them that power supply would be restored in an hour. But because of some lack of coordination the power breakdown lasted for three hours,” they said.