KARACHI, July 30: The first downpour of the season that the city received on Sunday afternoon exposed performance of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation as its distribution network broke down, suspending power supply to a major portion for several hours.
The rain emergency plan devised by the KESC’s new management did not work and the engineers and staff could only wait for a break in the rainfall to launch the repair work. Telephone lines and mobile phone services were also disturbed due to a collapse of the power supply system.
People in general made a common complaint that the centralised complaint centre (118) remained busy and the local complaint numbers were also either busy or unattended. They said that the power supply was suspended for several hours and they did not have any option but to register their complaints. They said that the KESC had neither improved its transmission and distribution network, nor had it upgraded the complaint centers’ performance.
The power utility could not re-energise most of its 800 feeders till late in the night.
A spokesman for the KESC said that a major portion of the city was affected at around 3pm due to the tripping of feeders. The power utility tried to switch on some of them but they tripped again. Soon after it stopped raining, the work to re-energise them was started, he added.
There was no problem in power generation system, he said, adding that at the time when power feeders tripped, the KESC was unable to supply power and the accumulated power up to 450 megawatts had to be exported to Wapda.
He said the power supply from the national grid of Jamshoro-KDA link was suspended in the small hours of Sunday tripping the Bin Qasim Power Plant. The tripping caused power failure in a major portion of the city. He said both the links from Jamshoro remained unserviceable for two hours. After the supply was restored, the affected area was energised.
However, people said that the power supply was suspended well before the rain started. They said that the KESC did not claim that the rainfall was the cause of power breakdowns.
Noman Effandi from J-Street off Khayaban-i-Muhafiz said that the power was suspended at 3pm and not restored till late in the night. He said he continuously dialed 118 and numbers of local complaint centres (9211402, 5857713-4) but all the numbers remained busy.
Another resident from Defence View Iqbal Shaikh said that the KESC had not only stopped supplying power to consumers but had also deliberately been keeping its complaint centres’ numbers busy to avoid receiving complaints.
He said that the power supply to his area was suspended in the small hours of Sunday for five hours. It played hide-and-seek till the afternoon and went off again at 3pm for another five hours. He said that President Musharraf believed in the version of KESC, and of aggrieved power consumers.
An angry consumer from Block-A North Nazimabad said that his locality was without power for the 11 hours. An infuriated citizen from Block-I, North Nazimabad, said that power went off in the morning and for one hour and went off at around 3pm. “We are frequently trying to lodge a complaint but all the KESC numbers are busy. Where should we go, and where to lodge the complaint, who will listen to us?” he questioned.
A resident of North Karachi, Sector 7/D-2, Gulshan-i-Farooque, said that power supply to this area had been suspended at 1:30am on Sunday and restored after a long span of five-and-half-hours. It was suspended again at 3pm and restored at 5:45pm.
An annoyed citizen, Aitezaz Ahsan, from Nagan Chowrangi, complained that his whole locality spent a sleepless night due to the absence of electricity. After it was restored in the early hours of Sunday, a breakdown occurred again in the afternoon.
Ms Fahmida calling from Shadman Town, said that the frequent power breakdowns had spoiled the holiday as power went off at 8:30am and was restored at 2pm. After one hour, it went off again and could not be restored till late in the night.
An irate resident of the Karachi University (township) said that power went off at around 3:30pm and was not restored until late in the night. He said that the KESC people were not picking telephone at complaint centres to keep the consumers unaware of what had actually happened and when would the power supply be restored.Mr Ali from Saddar area said power supply to his area had been suspended at around 1:40pm and was not restored till the night. The phone numbers of complaint centres were found busy all the time, he added.
A resident from Metroville-III said that power supply was discontinued at around 3pm and was not restored till late in the night.
Similarly, residents of Federal B Area Blocks 3, 7, 12, 15, and 19 said that the power supply in their localities was suspended at 3pm and not restored till late in the night.
People from Kharadar, Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Clifton, Soldier Bazaar, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Lalazaar, KDA Scheme 1, PECHS, MACHS, PIB Colony, Garden, Pak Colony, North Karachi, New Karachi, Malir, Bahadurabad, Sharfabad, Landhi, and other areas also complained of prolonged power failures on Sunday.
