KARACHI, June 27: The transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation broke down in many localities on Friday, resulting in prolonged power breakdowns.
A resident of Shah Faisal Colony told Dawn that power went out at around 10am in his area and came at 2.30pm. “Many times we tried to lodge a complaint but we did not succeed because all telephone lines of 118 were busy,” he said.
Calling from Federal B. Area, Block 14, a resident said his locality had been without electricity for more than two and a half hours. “I have reasons to believe this is loadshedding because our locality suffers power outage daily almost at this time. If this is not loadshedding — and our regional complaint centre said it is not loadshedding — then this is a remarkable coincidence,” he said.
Another resident of Federal B. Area, Block 16, said the electricity supply discontinued at around 6:30pm and was not restored till late at night. He said when he brought the matter to the notice of the KESC complaint centre of his area, officials on duty told him that power would supply remain suspended as long as the KESC vehicle had not returned from another locality.
A woman resident of Block-7, in Federal B. Area, said electric supply to her area was disconnected in the evening and had not been restored till late.
Faisal Aziz, a resident of North Karachi, Sector 11-B, told Dawn that the telephone numbers of regional complaint centre written on his electricity bill were found busy at all the times.
“What is the point in printing those telephone numbers on electricity bills if they remain engaged all the time? Similarly, 118, which is claimed to be the centralized complaint centre of the KESC, almost always remains busy,” he said.
A resident of Saddar told Dawn that his area had faced multiple but brief power shutdowns on Friday. “Apart from residential areas, in which we live, the commercial area also suffers prolonged power breakdowns on a daily basis. These power breakdowns affect business and commercial activity in the city centre,” he observed.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 13-D-2, told Dawn his locality also experienced more than three power shutdowns the previous night. “Power supply to our area is more fragile than the most delicate of things. It looks that we are fated to have a loose jumper in our transformer which fails to withstand wind. Every now and then it loses connection with the main supply and causes long spells of power breakdowns.”
He recalled that a KESC vehicle had come to fix the fault to his area some time back. “They told us in unequivocal terms that the fault would persist because they did not have the cable to replace the old one,” he said.
