KARACHI: KESC system breakdown makes people suffer
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 25: The ill-maintained transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation broke down in many areas on Tuesday.
Sources said that a transformer of the Federal B Area grid station broke down at around 10.30 in the morning. They said the transformer supplied electricity to the industrial areas in Federal B Area and North Karachi.
A resident of the area said he received ambiguous statements from the KESC staff who said that the control department and the operations department were unaware of the power breakdown.
"It was when we called many times that they told us that some insulators of the transformers were being replaced. They should have told the industrial areas about the replacement of the insulators earlier," he said.
A KESC spokesman that in view of complaints against the KESC complaint centres in Federal B Area and North Karachi, their staff had been strengthened and replaced.
Calling from Phase VI in Defence, Khalid Ali said that his locality had lost its electricity at around 11am on Monday. "Our power supply was finally restored at 6pm on Tuesday.
I talked to the executive engineer of the complaint centre and other officials. They were all unable to tell me exactly when the fault would be removed and power supply would be restored," he said.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 7, said that of late voltage had been fluctuating in her locality. She said: "First our fridge broke down. Then our airconditioner fell victim to voltage fluctuation.
The KESC penalizes us for paying power bills late. Why can't we get compensation from the KESC for damaging our home appliances," she wondered. A resident of Federal B Area, Block 19, said that his locality experienced intermittent power breakdowns after midnight. He added that the power breakdowns continued for many hours.
A resident from Buffer Zone, 15A/5, said that the area had been particularly hit by the crumbling KESC system. "There had been no power supply from Monday midnight to 6am on Tuesday," said Syed Faridul Hassan late in the evening. "Around noon the supply went out again and a vast area is still possessed by darkness."
PHONE NUMBERS: A major power breakdown plunged many blocks of North Nazimabad and federal B Area into darkness during Monday-Tuesday night. Power went off at about 1.15am (Tuesday).
Though it was restored in a few areas within an hour, residents of many areas complained that the breakdown ran into several hours. The telephone numbers of KESC complaint centres in Federal B Area, FC Area, North Karachi and Surjani Town have been changed, adds PPI.
The new telephone numbers are: Federal-I complaint centre: 9246132, 9246138; Federal-II Al-Noor complaint centre: 9246133, 9246114, Federal B complaint centre: 9246125, 9246126, North Karachi-I complaint centre: 9246118, North Karachi-II complaint centre: 6950040, North Karachi Industrial Area complaint centre: 6960729, Surjani Town-I complaint centre: 6931071, Surjani Town-II complaint centre: 6911811, Zonal Manager Federal B Area Aijaz Ahmed: 9246127, Executive Engineer Federal B Area Zone Abdul Qadir Memon: 9246129, Zonal Manager North Karachi Zahir Rizvi: 6344679, Executive Engineer North Karachi Zone Abdul Raheem: 9246117.
The KESC has requested the consumers of these complaints centres to lodge their complaints on the above mentioned telephone numbers and if they find the telephone busy, then complaints may be lodged personally at the respective complaint centre window or at phone 118.
Meanwhile, the Liaquatabad grid station will be closed for two hours for system improvement work on Wednesday, from 6am to 8am and the power supply will be temporarily interrupted in Liaquatabad, Federal B Area Block-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, Federal Capital Area, Nazimabad, Golimar, Firdous Colony, Sindhi Hotel, Sharifabad, Gulbahar and Rizvia Society.
