KARACHI, Aug 19: People in the downtown staged a demonstration against the power utility while the residents of various localities suffered prolonged power outages here on Saturday due to what the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation claimed to be ‘cable faults’.

People in Saddar near Zainab Market gathered on the main road and lit bonfires to express their anger over the prolonged power failures in their respective locality.

They said power supply remained suspended for several hours and despite several complaints, the supply is yet to be restored. In Clifton, the worst hit area was Seaview and Blocks 8 & 9 where people suffered prolonged power failures. Masood from Seaview said residents spent a sleepless night on Friday. The supply was restored for a few hours on Saturday and it again went off.

Another Seaview resident Nayyar Qadeer also made a similar complaint. About loss of lives by snapping of wires, he said the KESC was responsible for those deaths as power utility had to develop international standards so that snapped wires should carry no current.

According to KESC officials, the Gizri grid station tripped in the morning and was made operational by 11:15am.

One of its power transformer feeding power to some areas in Clifton, Gizri and Saddar was repaired by 4pm. Interruptions also occurred in North Karachi and Orangi Town due to some faults in the morning. The fault was repaired and supply restored, they added.

They said cable faults occurred in some areas and the power utility received about 5,000 individual complaints. Most of the complaints were attended by the KESC engineers and staff, they added.

A consumer Tufail from Edward Street in Garden East said his locality remained without power for more than seven hours. When he made a complaint, he was assured that supply power would be restored in an hour, but the supply was still off.

Complaints were also received from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Federal B Area, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Soldier Bazaar, Pak Colony, Landhi, Korangi, Orangi Town and other areas.