08 August 2004	Sunday	21 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, Aug 7: Power breakdowns caused by the little amount of rain that the city received on Friday night continued into the early hours of Saturday.

A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 16, said his locality experienced a 12-hour-long power breakdown after receiving a few of drops of rain.

"A complaint centre official told me that pole-mounted transformers had been switched off to evade any major electrical crisis during the rain. But he was unable to tell me why power was not being restored even though the rain had stopped," he said.

Another angry consumer, calling from Defence, Phase 2, argued that the transmission and distribution system of the KESC did not work in any season. "When it rains, the KESC feeders trip and complaint centres of the utility say their system cannot withstand rains. When the mercury goes up and power feeders trip, they (complaint centre officials) say their system cannot withstand heat. And when winter sets in, the utility says its system cannot withstand the fog. In short, the KESC system cannot work in any season," he observed.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 18, told Dawn that phones at his complaint centre constantly remained busy. "The complaint centre of my area has two telephone numbers, but both of them remain engaged all the time. The officials probably leave the phone receivers off the cradle, because they must be deluged with complaints. Phones at the centralized complaint centre, also known as 118, are busy all the time," he said.

Sources at the centralized complaint centre said that on Saturday, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Garden East and West, Defence, Phases II and IV, Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Clifton, Paposh Nagar, Golimar, Rizvia Society and PECHS (near Chanesar Halt) had experienced power breakdowns.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has claimed to have kept power supply normal on Friday night through its "rain emergency plan", adds PPI.

A KESC spokesman on Saturday said that as the rain started, chief engineers, zonal and sub-division officers arrived at their respective control centres to ensure smooth power supply.

Nominal feeder tripping occurred between 6pm and midnight, which were timely rectified by the KESC engineers and staff, and supply to affected areas was restored, he maintained.

The extra high tension lines at KDA-Valika Circuit, Baldia-Orangi Circuit also tripped during the rains which was normalized within an hour. While transformers developed faults at the North Karachi, Gulshan and SITE Grid Stations, which were repaired within 60 to 90 minutes, added the spokesman.

An hour's blackout was experienced in Clifton block-5, parts of Federal B area, Nazimabad and parts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, due to faults in the underground cables which could not be immediately repaired due to rain. Some of these areas also experienced shut downs between 9am and 12noon for repairing faults.