KARACHI: Hours-long power cut in many city areas: Two 132kv lines damaged
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 23: Power supply to many areas of the city discontinued in the small hours of Sunday as two underground high-tension cables of 132kv each were severed during the digging being carried out for development work in Liaquatabad and Shershah.
The suspension in power supply to a major portion of the city for many hours forced people to wake up in small hours. The most perturbed among them were patients and children, especially infants.
The affected areas included Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, parts of Federal B Area, parts of Shershah, Lyari, Mauripur and West Wharf. Power supply to PAF airbase was also interrupted.
The 132kv underground power cable in Liaquatabad, where the construction work of a subway is in progress, was damaged when heavy debris was dropped on it. The power supply to many areas discontinued at about 4am.
In Shershah area, water board officials were carrying out work on the laying of a pipeline during which a mechanical excavator in the process of digging hit and damaged a 132kv underground cable.
A spokesman for the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation said that the power utility time and again had asked the authorities concerned to intimate the KESC before initiating any development work that needed digging so that some KESC officials could identify or shift the cables to an alternative location. A sudden damage to high-tension underground cables created problem for people and the KESC as well, because the damaged cables needed more time to be repaired.
A main underground cable in Liaquatabad had been damaged earlier on March 21 during the digging work for the construction of the subway. People had suffered prolong power breakdowns in Liaquatabad, Nazimabad and the adjoining localities.
On April 18, five main cables near the National Stadium were damaged during digging work, depriving Bahadurabad, KDA Scheme-1, Dhoraji Society, parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, as well as the localities on both sides of Shaheed-i-Millat Road, of electricity for hours.
The spokesman said that power supply to Liaquatabad, Nazimabad and adjoining localities was restored by 4pm. This was made possible by connecting the areas with the Civic Centre and Haroonabad grids, he added. However, the supply to the areas affected by the damaged cable in Shershah could not be restored immediately for want of some alternative source.
According to him, the KESC is trying to make some alternative arrangements but it would take time. Some areas have been energized with the 11kv low-tension line and the work on the damaged lines has also been started. Hopefully, it will be completed by Tuesday.
He claimed that there was no shortage of power on Sunday, being the weekly holiday, and the power utility did not carry out load-shedding. However, the power utility may opt for load-shedding on Monday, if needed, he added.
Meanwhile, the spokesman said, a fault had developed in a main cable in Block-7, Federal B Area at around 2pm on Sunday. It was rectified and the electricity supply was restored to the affected areas by 7pm, he added.
However, a resident of Block-14, Federal B Area, said that power went off at around 2pm and was restored at around 6:10pm. He said that a two-hour load-shedding twice a day in his locality had become a routine. Criticizing the KESC management, he said that the new management was worse than the previous one as it had failed to bring about any improvement in the system so far.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Maymar said that the load-shedding in his locality was being carried out for two hours a day, contrary to the KESC’s claim.
