KARACHI: First drizzle aggravates power supply situation
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 5: A major portion of the city plunged into darkness on Wednesday night with the first drop of rain as the fragile transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electricity Corporation broke down.
Citizens from various parts of the city, including North Karachi, Malir, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Federal B Area, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Liaquatabad and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, etc., complained of power failure soon after the city received the first drizzle of monsoon.
A spokesman for the KESC said that the rain emergency plan already chalked out had been activated and a central control room established at the Elander Road power house. He said that 20-25 power feeders had been rendered tripped by the drizzle but the KESC managed to reactivate some of them and its staff were at work to normalise the power supply situation.
Besides, a cable fault in Defence Housing Society caused suspension of power supply to certain areas of Defence and Clifton. The spokesman said that the fault was located and rectified accordingly.
He said that no major breakdown had occurred during the day but the KESC effected a one-hour load-shedding on a group-wise basis in rotation to meet the shortfall.
Mr S.M. Waseem from Phase-VII, Defence, said the power supply to this area was suspended at 2am and restored at 8.30am. It was again suspended at 10am for two hours and again at 2.30pm for another two hours. He said that until a few weeks back, the area was facing a two-hour power suspension on account of load-shedding but now it was receiving power supply for two hours.
Another power consumer, Mr Saeed, from Phase-II, Defence, said that power went off in his locality at 9:30am for seven and a half hours. No one at the KESC complaint centre of the area would attend the phone to explain the cause, he said.
A consumer from Block-9, Clifton, said that power supply remained suspended throughout the day after played hide-and-seek during the whole previous night.
Ms Samina from Block-20, FB Area, said that the power supply was discontinued for two hours during the night and for another two hours on Wednesday. She said that voltage fluctuation also posed a constant threat to the electrical appliances at her home.
