KARACHI: Electricity hide & seek makes life miserable: Students suffer most
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, May 19: Power breakdowns in various areas of the city continued on Thursday forcing people to pass sleepless night and exposing the ‘efficiency’ of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation. The worst-affected were the students of higher secondary school taking their examinations as they had to prepare for the next day’s paper but owing to the power breakdowns, they were unable to continue their studies.
Even at the examination centres, candidates had to bear hot and humid weather in the absence of electricity.
An irate power consumer said that power failure of more than two hours took place in the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and a similar one in the morning in block 13D-III, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. He said it had now become a routine but KESC did not bother to improve its efficiency.
A citizen calling from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 20, said that the power breakdown had taken place late on Wednesday night and after two-three hours, the supply was restored at 4am.
A frustrated KESC consumer in Block 7/8 Gulistan-i-Jauhar said that electricity went off at about midnight for one and a half hour and when people of the affected area were about to sleep, it went off again at 3am for another three hours. Candidates of intermediate examinations were badly affected due to the disruption in power supply but the army-managed KESC had so far done nothing to improve its power distribution system, he added.
Ever since the army took over the KESC, its performance is constantly deteriorating, according to a resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 14. He said that power supply was being discontinued off and on during the whole night forcing the people of the area to pass sleepless night. He said that the KESC management was not at all competent enough to run a utility facility.
Another irate KESC consumer from Garden East, Edward Street, said that repeated power breakdowns had been occurring since morning. After several suspensions of short period, there were long spells.
A furious consumer said that a breakdown occurred between 11pm and 3am. As usual, the KESC people were doing nothing to identify faults and improve their transmission and distribution system.
A resident of F B Area said that power shutdown of one-hour duration had taken place from midnight to 5am in Block 16. Due to the situation, people could not sleep for a moment during the whole night.
Another consumer in Block-16-A, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, said that electricity went off at 11pm and was restored at 1am. It went off again at 2am and restored at 4am.
A resident of Block-13/D-I, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, said that while power breakdowns of two-hour each in the locality were a routine, but the KESC had resorted to load-shedding on Wednesday night which continued the next morning.
People from different other areas, including Rexer Lane, Chawkiwara, Amynabad (PIB Colony), Korangi, Korangi Crossing, Darusalam Housing Society, Allahwala Town, Altaf Town, many localities of Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, New Karachi, Orangi Town, Landhi, North Karachi, Mubina Town, Nishter Colony, Jamshed Quarters and Soldier Bazaar, also complained of power failures of a minimum of two-hour duration.
