KARACHI: Breakdowns in vast area as Hubco link snaps again
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 1: Power supply to the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation through Hubco link was interrupted early in the morning on Thursday, rendering a major portion of the city without electricity.
It is for the second time within a span of 72 hours that the city has suffered a shortfall of 350 megawatts.
A spokesman for the power utility said that power supply from the newly-built Hubco-Baldia link was interrupted between 5am and 6am, for the second time since May 30.
The spokesman said that the Hubco link was restored at 9am. He said that the KESC, through alternative arrangements, energised the affected grid stations and restored power supply. He said that the KESC was getting 350 megawatts from Wapda through the Hubco link.
He claimed that the situation was normalised after 9am and no load-shedding was carried out in any part of the city as the utility had enough electricity to meet the demand.
Due to the disruption in power supply through the Hubco link, a major part of the city remained without electricity for at least two hours just before the sunrise. The affected areas included Baldia Town, Orangi Town, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, parts of North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, North Karachi, etc.Meanwhile, a KESC van was set on fire in Shah Faisal Colony on Thursday by angry power consumers following prolonged power breakdowns in the area. An angry mob of youths, with stones and sticks in their hands, intercepted the van and roughed up the staff it was carrying, before setting the vehicle on fire.Residents of the area complained that frequent and prolonged power failures in their locality had disturbed their life because in addition to being made to sizzle in the prevailing hot and humid weather conditions, they were facing an acute shortage of water. They said they had lodged several complaints with the KESC’s local centre and also on the ‘118’ but no relief was provided to them.
Residents of Clifton’s Block-8 and the nearby locality of Delhi Colony said that power supply to their localities was suspended early in the morning, at around 5am, and was restored after 13 hours. Many calls were made to lodge the complaints and know about the reason for the prolonged power failure, but no satisfactory reply was given by KESC men, they added.
Complaints of voltage fluctuation were also received from many localities with people claiming of having suffered heavy losses on account of damage to their costly electrical appliances.
Mrs Ali from Block-11 in Federal B Area said that she had bought a new split air-conditioner in February this year which went out of order on Thursday due to the voltage fluctuation.
