KARACHI, April 24: Furious with the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation for doing nothing about prolonged power breakdowns in various localities, residents of Old Golimar, Pak Colony and Bara Board took to the streets on Sunday afternoon and stormed the complaint centre on Manghopir Road.

Area residents said that their localities experienced prolonged power breakdowns on a daily basis. “But on Sunday, a power breakdown occurred at around 10 o’clock in the morning. While we lodged many complaints with the KESC complaint centre on Manghopir Road, the power utility did nothing to end the power cut. It was around 3pm that area residents took to the streets and pelted the KESC complaint centre with stones,” they said.

Witnesses said irate youths burnt tyres on Manghopir Road and blocked off traffic. “The protesters left smashed window panes of the KESC complaint centre in their wake. Interestingly, our power supply was restored within an hour of our storming the complaint centre,” they said.

However, a spokesman for the KESC said that he did not receive any report about storming of the complaint centre on Manghopir Road. He said a power transformer of the Hussainabad grid had broken down, adding that the electrical device had been repaired within an hour.

Pak Colony police said that a huge mob of irate KESC consumers pelted the complaint centre with stones. “They were extremely upset about the prolonged power breakdown in their locality. They first came to lodge complaints, but turned violent when the KESC did nothing,” they said.