KARACHI, April 26: People remained without electricity at their homes and workplaces for hours, another day on Wednesday, as the extra-high tension 220 kilovolts wire, carrying power from the Bin Qasim Thermal Power Station to its adjacent KCR grid, snapped Tuesday night.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, one of the two main circuits at the KCR grid, carrying power to 14 grid stations of the city, had tripped. It was repaired at around 8:35pm.
But soon after its repair, the wire snapped again at around 9pm the same night, plunging a vast area into darkness, which included Korangi, the Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, old city areas, Saddar, I I Chundrigar Road, Burnse Road, and the Lyari, Baldia, North Karachi, and Orangi towns.
Fourteen grid stations including those in Baldia, Clifton, Elander Road, Gizri, Lyari, Mauripur, North Karachi, Old Town, Orangi Town, Queens Road, Lalazar, SITE, Valika and West Whart, which had been badly affected on Tuesday, remained without power for hours on Wednesday as well.
The power crisis deepened in these areas when the feeble transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation failed to bear the entire load of power from alternate circuits.
The power utility did not have a shortage in power generation in accordance with the demand, in fact, its outdated transmission and distribution system could carry 300 megawatts less power, forcing the KESC to resort to load-shedding in the affected areas.
Spokesman for the power utility said: "We believe that the wire did not snap but it was deliberately cut. It could be an incident of theft or a sabotage activity."
Those who had attempted to steal the wire could not take it away as the KESC guards had intensified patrolling in the isolated areas from Bin Qasim
Thermal Power Station to the KCR Grid Station.
About the registration of a case with the police, he said the security department of the power utility may have reported the matter to the police.
However, the duty officer at the Bin Qasim police station said: "No one from the KESC has come to the police station to register any case about wire theft or sabotage activity.”
The utility’s spokesman said that engineers and staff of the power utility had been working to repair the wire and it would hopefully be operational till midnight. He said group-wise load-shedding in the affected areas was carried out for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Besides the areas connected to the affected 14 grid stations, the KESC did not resort to load-shedding in the remaining 40 grid stations of the city, he said.
Though some complaints of localized faults were received from a few such areas, these were entertained and the faults were removed, he added.
However, people from various areas of the city, where the KESC had not carried out load-shedding, also complained about prolong and intermittent power failures.
A student of Class X, Adnan, from Block-G, Hyderi in North Nazimabad said: "Power goes off daily from four to five times. In the absence of electricity, my studies are interrupted when I am preparing for exams."He said power supply was discontinued at around 3pm and restored at around 4pm on Tuesday. It went out again at 5pm and returned at 7pm. But it was suspended once again after 10-15 minutes.
An angry consumer from Block-A in North Nazimabad said the KESC resorted to load-shedding for five to six hours daily.
On one hand, a water crisis had developed due to power failures while on the other, due to dug up roads by the city government, around North Nazimabad and Nazimabad, the residents were confined to their homes."What kind of city are we living in and in what conditions? It is better for the government to kill the citizens all at once instead of giving them slow poison," he said in anger.
Mrs Samira from Block-13 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar said power breakdowns had become a routine in her locality and the utility’s complaint numbers were always busy.
Posh localities in Clifton and the Defence Housing Authority were also among the most affected on Wednesday, as people complained of intermittent power failures in their respective localities.
A furious consumer Ms Uzma Siddiqui from Phase VII in Khayaban-i-Bahria, DHA, said power went out from eight to nine times a day, and that it was supplied hardly three to four hours to her locality.
She said due to the power crisis, there was shortage of water while foodstuff in refrigerators was also perishing. Besides, the power fluctuation and intermittent failures have started damaging electrical appliances, she complained.
Dr Zaki from Clifton Block 9 said power supply was disrupted in his locality at around 9am and was restored by 2pm.
Complaints were also received from other areas of the DHA, Clifton, parts of the Federal B Area, Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, Orangi Town, North Karachi, Buffer Zone, Korangi, PECHS, and Lines Area.
