KARACHI, Sept 5: People across the city continued to endure power outages on Tuesday, as the KESC resorted to loadshedding after one of its six units in Bin Qasim Power Station was shut down for maintenance.

Though the KESC spokesman claimed that the power demand was almost met by 4pm, people in various localities complained that the power supply was suspended in their respective localities in the evening as well.

The KESC spokesman said that the high-tension wire snapped on Monday afternoon was repaired on Tuesday. However, he said that the affected areas were fed with alternate arrangements within an hour. After the completion of repair work, he said, the power supply through the link was restored.

On Tuesday, the KESC shut down the Unit No 5 at Bin Qasim Power Station, which was producing up to 150 megawatts electricity.

The unit would remain shut for 74 days for maintenance and it was hoped that it would produce more than 200 MW power after its maintenance. The spokesman said that the unit was shut down according to the scheduled programme.

He said that an hour-long loadshedding was carried out on rotation from 1:50pm to 4pm. However, the power demand was met accordingly after 4pm, he added.

However, residents of various localities complained about power failures.

A resident of Buffer Zone, 15-B, said that people of his locality were forced to bear power failures for four-five hours on Tuesday. The power failures had become routine and the KESC people did not entertain complaints, he claimed.

In Federal B Area, the power supply was disrupted for an hour in the afternoon, a resident of Block-3 said.

Another consumer from Block-15 complained that the power supply was discontinued thrice for one hour each. Frequent power failures coupled with low voltage posed a constant threat to electrical appliances, he added. A resident of Block-12 also complained about frequent power cuts in his locality.

In Lyari, an irate consumer from Khadda Market said that frequent and prolonged power failures in his locality had become order of the day. He said that power outages for four to five hours were faced on Tuesday and the KESC daily resorted to power load shedding during nights.

An angry consumer from Korangi Crossing said that people in his locality were compelled to spend sleepless nights as the KESC was carrying out prolonged power loadshedding. He said that the power supply was also disrupted twice or thrice during daytime.

A resident from Malir Halt said that two-hour unannounced power loadshedding in the afternoon was a routine feature in his locality.