KARACHI: Faults keep many areas without electricity
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, June 11: Power breakdowns in various localities continued on Sunday despite the fact that the KESC had enough electricity to meet the demand.
The worst-hit was the area of North Nazimabad where power supply was suspended at around 6pm and could not be restored till late in the night. On Saturday, residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, its adjoining locality of Metroville-III, and parts of Gulistan-i-Jauhar were faced with a power breakdown of more than 13 hours as the two transformers at the Gulshan grid station had gone out of order and an extra high-tension line also developed some fault.
Regarding the breakdown on Sunday, KESC officials said that the 11kv overhead cable severed near the Ship-owners’ College in North Nazimabad, suspending electricity to certain areas.
They said that repair work had been carried out to restore the supply. Besides, they said, a fault had occurred near Ancholi, Federal B Area, on Sunday night and the repair work was in progress. They area was energised through alternative arrangements, they added.
However, residents of North Nazimabad said that the major portion of North Nazimabad still remained without electricity and the KESC officials kept on telling complainants that the fault would be rectified soon. They said they were waiting for the restoration of power supply even after having suffered many hours of breakdown.
The KESC officials said that the fault had been rectified and the affected area re-energized after five hours of breakdown.
However, the faults recurring in the feeble transmission and distribution system perturbed power consumers. Many of them strongly criticised KESC’s centralised complaint centre with telephone number ‘118’, saying that the number often remained busy and if not, it was not attended. Same is the case of the local complaint centres phone numbers of which was provided on power bills of respective areas. Pointing out that many numbers appeared on the bill but did not relate to complaint centres.
The KESC had never bothered to mention the appropriate telephone numbers for the complainants to reach the right person, they deplored.
Some consumers said that even if a number was attended, the KESC staff would never tell what wrong had actually happened. They would only give lame excuses, they added.
People from other areas in the city also complained of intermittent power failures.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block-16, said that power supply to this block was restored after 13 hours but suspended again at around 4am for one hour. Power went off for yet another hour in the evening. He also complained of low voltage while the area remained energised.
A resident of Federal B Area, Block 17, said that intermittent power failures continued throughout the day with voltage fluctuation that posed a constant threat to electrical appliances at home.
A consumer from Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block 16-A said that power supply was suspended for one hour in the morning and for another hour in the evening.
A consumer from Liaquatabad No.4 said that intermittent power failures were a routine in his locality. He said power failures occurred thrice on Sunday for an hour each.
A resident of Orangi Town said that the power supply to his locality would remain suspended for many hours in a day and on Sunday, power went off for two hours.
