KARACHI: Many areas face power failures as line snaps
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, July 22: An extra high-tension line of 132 kilovolts of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation snapped in the small hours of Saturday plunging many areas of the city into darkness.
KESC spokesman said that some unidentified persons attempted to steal the copper wire of the high tension line carrying electricity from Landhi to Gulistan-i-Jauhar grid. As the tripping was noticed, the mobile security force searched the area and found some people trying to cut the copper wire. The immediate action of the security force saved the KESC expensive wire but the thieves managed to escape.
The line was connected by 3pm during which the supply of electricity to many areas was suspended. Later, the Bin Qasim Power Plant Unit No 6 was shut down for maintenance causing a shortfall of 50MW to 70MW for which the KESC resort to an hour-long load shedding on rotational basis.
Due to the incident, the wire got severed and the KESC engineers and staff took several hours to rectify it. Three grids, Liaquatabad, Civic Centre, and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, were badly affected and they were provided with alternative supply. However, the KESC had to switch off the power supply intermittently as the feeders got heated up due to overloading. The KESC claimed that the situation was normalised by 3pm after the completion of line work.
A resident from Block-16 in Gulshan-i-Iqbal said that the power supply was discontinued at around 3am and it was restored at around 8am. However, the power supply remained playing hide-and-seek all the day.
A resident of Liaquatbad said that power supply was disrupted on early Saturday morning and was not fully restored till 9am. The intermittent power supply with low voltage affected electrical appliances.
A complainant from Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block-17 told Dawn that power played hide-and-seek throughout the night.
He said that intermittent power failures continued all the day. He said that low voltage and power fluctuations affected his computer and several lights got burnt.
A resident from North Nazimabad Block-H said that the power went off at around 7am and it was restored by 2pm.
Shopkeepers and traders under the Tariq Road Traders Action Committee on Saturday staged a demonstration to register their protest over the prolonged power load shedding on daily basis and low voltage posing a constant threat to electrical appliances.
They threatened of giving a strike call if the unannounced load shedding was not abandoned and stable supply of power was not restored.
They said that the power crisis developed on Tariq Road for the past some weeks which had been leading to business losses. They accused the power utility of creating an artificial crisis despite the fact that they had been receiving additional power supply from Wapda.
They demanded of the governor and relevant authorities to take notice of the situation and get the loadshedding abandoned.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal criticised the persistent unannounced load shedding and accused the government of turning Karachi into city of darkness.
In a joint statement, MMA MNAs Muhammad Hussein Mehenti, Abdul Sattar Afghani and Laeeq Khan said that the entire city plunged into darkness despite assurances by the government of containing power breakdowns.
They said that the regime that failed to provide water, electricity and other amenities to the citizens had no right to rule the country.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal legislators asked the government as to what steps it had taken to end the power load shedding in the city.
