KARACHI: People suffer for KESC’s lack of coordination
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 30: Lack of coordination between the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation’s centralized complaint system and its operations department annoyed consumers in many localities of the city which experienced a day-long pre-announced power shutdown on Saturday.
The KESC announced on Friday that under a system improvement scheme it would keep the Federal B Area grid station off from 10am to 6pm. The localities which were to be affected by the shutdown included Federal B Area, Block 1 to 22, Shafiq Colony, Buffer Zone, Sohrab Goth, New Karachi Sectors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11-A, 11-B, 11-G, Godhra Camp, Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-2 and 4.
Irate consumers calling from various blocks of Federal B Area and Gulshan-i-Iqbal told Dawn that the centralized complaint centre of the KESC, better known as 118, told complainants that it had no idea why their localities had been without electricity since morning.
“I told one telephone attendant at 118 that the power shutdown had been announced by the KESC in advance and I wanted to know when supply would be restored. He said that the centralized complaint centre had not been informed by the operations department that a pre-announced shutdown was underway,” they said.
A spokesman for the KESC said some misunderstanding on the part of the telephone attendant at 118 could be the reason for the lack of coordination.
“Generally telephone attendants at the centralized complaint centre have the latest information about KESC shutdowns. It must have been one odd incident,” he said.
When asked why the Federal B Area grid was switched off on a regular basis ostensibly under a system improvement scheme, the KESC spokesman said the exercise would continue till 2007.
“It is an ongoing process. The KESC infrastructure badly needs refurbishment. When we leave the transmission and distribution system unattended for long, it becomes vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather. Consumers should realize that the system improvement scheme will benefit them in the long run,” he said.
However, many consumers called to say that the lackadaisical manner in which KESC officials worked at transformers and grid stations showed that they were not in a hurry to finish their jobs. They alleged that in most localities the power shutdown continued even after the deadline of 6pm.
