KARACHI: Negligence by KESC men claims minor’s life: Breakdowns hit many areas
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Sept 8: The gross negligence on the part of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation claimed life of a small girl in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday afternoon. The girl, identified as Kinza Naveed, 6, was electrocuted when she touched the grill of her house in Block-3, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. It transpired that the iron grill had live current as the water accumulated between the house and the nearby electricity pole served as good conductor.
Before the incident, people of the area had noticed sparks occurring in the live cables near the house as soon as it started raining.
They made numerous calls to the concerned KESC complaint centre but no one from the power utility turned up.
The incessant rain led to the accumulation of water and current made its way into the iron grill through water and wet walls of the house. Obviously unaware, Kinza was electrocuted as she touched the grill. She was taken to a private hospital but could not survive.
A neighbour, Moiz Ahmed, said that the KESC officials were repeatedly asked in the morning to discontinue power supply to the area as the sparks in the wires could lead to some tragic incident but they paid no heed.
When they were informed about the incident in the evening, they tried to shift the blame by claiming that they had passed on the complaint to the section concerned, said Mr Moiz.
Many residents of the area endorsed his contention and deplored that the KESC’s indifferent attitude and the criminal negligence of its staff at the complaint centres resulted in the death of an innocent girl.
Residents of Baldia town and Saeedabad took to the street and pelted vehicles with stones, suspending vehicular traffic for hours, in protest against the prolonged power breakdowns.
The protesters blocked Hub River Road and staged demonstrations after getting perturbed over a daylong suspension of power supply to their localities. They raised slogans against the poor performance and indifferent attitude of the KESC.
Police moved into the troubled area and tried to persuade the protesters to end their agitation. However, the protesters dispersed only when power supply was restored.
Meanwhile, various areas of the Defence Housing Authority, including Phase I, IV, V and VI, remained without power since morning. The supply was not restored till last reports came in.
KESC officials said that there was no major power breakdown in the city on Friday. As far as the areas in Defence, Malir Cantonment and Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block-7 were concerned, the officials said that some cable faults in certain localities had caused suspension in power supply.
They maintained that engineers and workers were busy rectifying the faults and restore the normal supply. However, they did not give any timeframe in this regard.
An irate consumer, Mrs Naheed Khan, calling from Khayaban-i-Bahria, Defence Phase V, said that power supply to her area was being suspended for four to five hours every day and this was in practice over the past fortnight.
On Friday, she added, the supply was suspended at 1pm and was not restored even after seven hours now. She said that she had been trying constantly to reach some local KESC official by telephone but the numbers of the complaint centre (5896006 and 5896007) remained busy all the time.
“Where should we go? Its Shab-i-Baraat, a holy occasion, today but how can we worship while there is no light and no water?” The angry woman further asked: “How long the KESC will subject citizens to this agony?”
Mrs Anwer Maqsood from Defence Phase-VI said that power supply was disrupted at around 11am and was not restored till midnight.
She said several attempts were made to contact the centralized KESC complaint centre on ‘118’ but it was not being attended by any one.
Another consumer from Street 18, Defence Phase V, said that power supply to his area was suspended at around 11am and it was not restored till night. A consumer from Defence Phase I said that electricity went off at around 1pm and was to be restored as yet, after nine hours.
An enraged consumer, Dr Babar Hanif, from Khayaban-i-Mujahid said that his locality was without electricity since 6am. He said that he had made frantic calls to the complaint centre’s numbers but no one was there to attend a call.
Sabir Ali from Gulshan-i-Umair, Malir Cantonment, said that power supply was suspended in the morning and could not be restored till the night.
Yet another power consumer, M. Akhtar, calling from Block-1, Sharifabad, F B Area, said that his area was without power since 11am and the supply was not restored despite a lapse of many hours.
