KARACHI: SC urged to take notice of power failures
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 29: The chief justice of the Supreme Court should take suo motu notice of the KESC affairs in view of the serious irregularities which came to fore during the court’s hearing of the case pertaining to the privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills and finally the latter’s privatisation was declared null and void as unconstitutional.
This plea was made by speakers at the all-parties conference held at the Jamaat-i-Islami office, Idara Noor-i-Haq, under the auspices of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal here on Thursday.
Presided over by a central leader of the MMA, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, the APC was addressed leaders of more than a dozen parties who included Prof N.D. Khan of PPP, Salim Zia of PML-N, Yusuf Masti Khan of PWP, Maulana Abdul Karim Abid of JUI-F, Zubair Khan of Tehrik-i-Insaaf, Amin Khattak of ANP, Zain Ansari of ARD and Zia Abbas of NPP.
The conference adopted a resolution which strongly demanded that the privatisation agreement with the new KESC management be cancelled forthwith if it was unable to overcome the power crisis. It also demanded imposition of heavy fine on the management as was done in the case of the Pakistan Steel Mills.
The APC further demanded that as part of the ongoing power conservation drive, use of all the air-conditioners at the Governor’s House, CM’s House and government offices be banned effectively, instead of forcing early closure of shopping centres and keeping the streetlights off in night hours.
The APC warned the rulers that if concrete measures were not taken immediately to overcome the persisting power and water crises, the APC would observe a protest day on Friday and give a call for a ‘march’ from Mufti Shamzai Chowrangi to Sea Breeze on July 2.
Observing that poverty, sky-rocketing prices of POL products and essential items of daily use, and unemployment has already made the life of common man miserable, the APC deplored that the power and water crises had added to the agony.
It reminded the KESC management that at the time of taking over the utility, it had undertaken to overcome the power crisis, besides turning the company into a profit-making venture. The APC noted that on the contrary, the power crisis had been deepening with every passing day, as the frequency and duration of the scheduled and unscheduled load-shedding had become out of all proportion. This had also aggravated the water supply situation, it added.
The APC also deplored that despite early closure of shops and markets to conserve electricity, there was no let up in the load-shedding. Even the urgent surgeries and treatment of the cases of serious nature at various hospitals were getting affected by the unscheduled, frequent and prolonged power cuts. The students taking their examinations these days were undergoing a mental agony because of the situation, it noted.
The APC resolution pointed out that switching off the streetlights soon after sunset had caused an increase in theft and robbery cases in Karachi. The streetlights would remain on during the day time which proved that there was no shortage of electricity, rather an artificial power crisis had been created.
The resolution said that the persisting crisis was seriously affecting trade and industrial activity in Karachi, where businessman community had already suffered a collective loss of Rs40 billion so far.
The APC observed that the power and water crises had forced people to take to the streets, and regretted that instead of providing any relief to them, the authorities were subjecting the protesters to police action.
It deplored the higher power tariff being charged from Karachiites than the citizens of other areas of the country.
Expressing concern over the attitude of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, it noted that its representatives would rush to Islamabad, for getting the party’s problems resolved, who would not return until the same were resolved, but all that the party and its legislators could do to rid Karachiites of the power and water problem was to send a letter with its four MPAs’ signature to the rulers in Islamabad.
Prof Ghafoor asked the KESC management to apprise people of the actual causes of the power crisis by calling a press conference.
Prof N.D. Khan said that power and water crises were not an issue of any particular party, but a matter of concern for all parties. He urged all parties and groups to unite on a one-point agenda to save the country.
