KARACHI, May 30: Violence broke out in Nazimabad and Liaquatabad areas on Tuesday in protest against the prolonged power breakdowns. The protesters lit bonfire, blocked thoroughfares and raised slogans against the power utility.

Residents of Nazimabad took to the streets when power went off at 4:30am on Tuesday. They lost patience as they had already suffered a daylong power failure on Monday when an 11kv underground cable got damaged during the development work being carried out by the city government.

The mishap resulted in suspension of power supply to Nazimabad, Rizvia, Gulbahar and adjoining areas. These areas were energised after 2am.

The angry protesters raised slogans against the government and the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation. Police reached the spot to control the situation but the protesters pelted their vans with stones. Police used baton-charge and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the violent mobs and brought the situation under control.

A similar situation was witnessed in Liaquatabad where residents took to the street and lit bonfire. They also raised slogans against the power utility and blocked the road. Police, however, managed to bring the situation under control and reopened the road by noon.

People spent sleepless night in a major part of the city after the Hubco-KDA link ceased to work and the extra-high tension line near the toll plaza on Super Highway snapped at the same time, at around 4:35am on Tuesday. The areas which suffered prolonged power failures included Site, Baldia, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, Liaquatabad, Federal B Area, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

A spokesman for the KESC said that an attempt was made to steal the conductors of a high-tension line of 220kv near toll plaza. An exchange of fire between KESC guards and the gang of thieves ensued but the thieves managed to escape, he added.

The spokesman said that during the attempted theft, the high-tension line snapped at 4:35am and it took the KESC hours to get the same repaired. To facilitate the work, the KDA-Surjani link, carrying electricity from Jamshoro circuit, had to be switched off. At the same time, the transformer at the Baldia grid, carrying electricity from Hubco, also tripped, causing suspension of power supply to Karachi.

A sudden shortfall of 370 megawatts from Hubco link and another 250 megawatts from Jamshoro link created a power crisis in the city. People woke up as they could not sleep in the humid and hot weather.

The spokesman claimed that the affected areas were provided with alternative power supply by 6:20am but loadshedding was continued until the supply from Hubco link restored at around 11:30am. However, supply from the KDA-Surjani link was restored at around 2pm. He said that the situation was normalised by 3pm.

People in Federal B Area, North Nazimabad and Nazimabad, however, claimed that power in these areas was not restored until 4pm. They said that the prolonged power failures were result of the poor performance of the KESC and the weak transmission and distribution system which had so far shown no sign of an improvement.

A resident of F B Area Block-12 said that intermittent power failures in his locality continued over the last two days. He said he made several complaints but to no avail. “We have spent two nights without power and lodged several complaints but the KESC men did not cite any reason of the breakdown,” he added.

A resident of F B Area, Block 3, said that power went off at about midnight between Monday and Tuesday and came back only at 7:15pm on Tuesday, forcing people to remain without power for more than 19 hours.

Another resident from Block-17 said that the power failures of long duration continued with brief breaks on Monday and Tuesday. The KESC officials kept claiming that they were due to the localised faults. Fluctuation in power supply also posed constant threat to domestic electrical appliances, he said.

A consumer from the Rizwan Cooperative Housing Society, Scheme-33, near Safoora Goth, said that power supply to this area discontinued at around 4:30am and was restored at 7pm after an interval of more than 14 hours. He said that the unannounced loadshedding of two-three hours every night had become a routine but the KESC officials had no reason to reveal for having resorted to this practice.

A consumer from North Nazimabad’s Block-H said that current power crisis was a matter related to the Tuesday morning mishaps, but power supply to this block had been suspended much before the incidents.

A resident of F B Area, Block 5, said that the power went off in his locality at around 4am and was restored after a pause of 12 hours, at around 4pm.

A resident in Block-14, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, said that the power went off in the small hours of Tuesday and it came back at 8:30am. It again went off at 11am for two hours and the intermittent suspensions continued throughout the day.

Another consumer from 13-D in Gulshan-i-Iqbal said that power went off for three hours from 4:30am.

A resident from Dhoraji Society said that the power went off for two hours at noon and again at around 6:45pm for three hours. Besides, he added, voltage fluctuation caused damage to the electrical appliances.