11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

KARACHI, April 10: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation on Saturday failed to provide uninterrupted electricity to many localities of the city.

Complaints of power breakdowns were received from Korangi, F. B. Area (Blocks 16 and 18) and Defence Housing Authority (Phase VI).

In DHA Phase VI, area people said at least three breakdowns occurred in their locality which disturbed their normal life.

The first power breakdown occurred at 6am. It lasted for two-and-a-half hours. The second breakdown occurred at 10am and lasted for some time. The third power breakdown occurred later in the day. It was a brief power breakdown which occurred only a couple of minutes.

At least two breakdowns occurred in Federal B Area's Block 18. Area people said that power breakdowns have started occurring with greater frequency lately.

According to area people, the first breakdown occurred early in the morning, and supply was restored around 2pm. Another power failure occurred at 5pm, and supply was not restored till late in the night.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 16, said his locality faced two power breakdowns on Saturday. Moreover, there was a problem of low voltage.

In Korangi, area people said power failures in their locality have become a regular feature, especially at night.

"The residents of low-income localities cannot afford to purchase power generators and they have to often suffer electricity breakdowns," said an area resident, expressing his resentment over the attitude of the KESC.

"I have just returned from work and there has been no electricity in my locality since 4 O'clock. It has become a daily feature now. Quite often we wake up with a start when we lose our electricity supply at night," he said.

However, a KESC spokesman said no major power breakdowns occurred on Saturday. He added that in some areas the KESC was repairing its infrastructure which caused power cuts for some time. He said that such breakdowns were announced in advance.

The KESC spokesman said that individual complaints of consumers were redressed at the earliest.