KARACHI: People suffer as power breakdowns persist
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 23: As the Karachiites experienced the harsh hot weather for the second day on Friday, the KESC received lesser supply from Wapda and resorted to loadshedding to meet its 300mw shortage, making people’s lives miserable.
The mercury though dropped slightly, the maximum temperature remained 40.4 degrees Celsius with humidity at 29 per cent. The Met office said that owing to the low pressure that had developed over west of Mumbai was sucking in the air from the adjoining areas and the city was lashed with the land-based hot and dry air from Rajasthan and Balochistan.
While the callers spoke of their miseries owing to the power disruptions, they said that when electricity supply was restored the voltage fluctuated so much that a large number of their electronic appliances had burnt down. Many of them said that they also faced a water shortage as they could not turn on their water pumps to fill in the overhead tanks.
Residents from the Memon Market and Khadda Market, Lyari, said that their areas had remained without power supply from 9pm to 12 midnight on Thursday, and then from 7am to 12noon, and again from 3pm to 8pm on Friday. A caller from Block 7, near Safari Park in Gulstan-i-Jauhar, said her area was without electricity from 10am to 12noon and again from 4pm to 6pm.
A caller from Keamari said his area was without power supply from 12noon to 1pm on Friday whereas the supply was disrupted three to four times for around 15 minutes each during the last night. A resident of sector 32 C, Korangi, said his area was without power supply from 8pm to 12.30am on Thursday night.
A resident of Block 16, federal B Area, said his area was without power supply from 9.30pm to 12 midnight. A caller from near the CIA Centre in Saddar said the area was without power supply from 4pm till 8pm. Residents of Block 17, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulberg in Federal B Area said that the areas experienced power shutdowns for about an hour three to four times a day.
A resident of Block 13 D 1, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, said that her area was without power supply from 11am to noon and from 6pm to 8pm. A caller from Block 16, Federal B Area, said that his area was without power supply from 9.30pm to 12.30am on Friday.
A resident of Sector 14 A, Shadman Town, North Nazimabad, said her area was without power supply from 3.45pm till 8pm. He said that the power to area remained cut off three to four times a day. A caller from Block 16 A, Gulistan-i-Jauher said that his area was without power supply from 12.30am to 2am and then 10am to 12.20pm.
A resident of Journalists Colony in Gulshan-i-Iqbal said his area was without power supply from 9.30am to 10.30am and again from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. A caller from Block 12, Federal B Area, said her area was without electricity supply from 12.45am to 1.45am and again from 2.45pm to 4.15pm.
A resident of Block 2 of Gulistan-i-Jauher said his area was without power supply from 3.30pm to 5.30pm. A caller from Sector 11 A, North Karachi, said his area was without power supply from 2pm to 4pm and from 9pm to 11.30pm on Thursday and from 12noon to 2pm on Friday.
Responding to Dawn’s queries, the KESC spokesperson said the demand for electricity had increased by 100mw since Thursday because of the hot weather, and besides wapda had reduced its regular supplies of 600mw to 400mw, hence the KESC was facing a shortage of around 300mw and the organisation was carrying out a loadshedding programme in the city.
