KARACHI, Sept 19: People across the city braved intermittent and prolonged power failures on Tuesday in the sizzling weather and criticized the poor performance of the complaint centres of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation.
However, the KESC claimed that the overall power generation and distribution system worked normal till the afternoon. It said that the power utility had to resort to one-hour group-wise power load-shedding across the city since 2pm due to a 100mw shortfall in power generation.
Contrary to the KESC’s claim, power supply to many localities was disrupted much before the power utility resorted to power load-shedding.
Mohammad Imran Khan from Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block-2, near the office of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, said power supply to his locality was disrupted the previous midnight and it could not be restored even after 20 hours.
He said he had lodged many complaints since midnight but the rectification process was started at 3pm.
He said that the KESC officials working to repair the fault said that they received complaints only in the afternoon. He criticized the performance of the complaint centres.
A consumer from Block-18 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar said power supply to his locality remained suspended for two hours, from 2pm to 4pm.
Tufail from Edward Street in Garden East said the people in his locality spent a sleepless night as the blackout prevailed the whole night. He said the streetlights were also off and there were apprehensions of criminal activity or house robbery in the darkness. He said intermittent power breakdowns occurred the whole day on Tuesday.
The KESC complaint centre phones were either busy or did not respond, he added.A consumer from Block-16 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal said there was no light from 6pm to 1130pm on Monday night following which power supply continued to play hide and seek the whole night and till Tuesday afternoon.
He said that when the KESC did not resort to load-shedding during nights, what the causes of intermittent power failures were and what was the nature of faults.
Abrar from Block-5, Gulshan, said power supply went off for a sixth time on Tuesday and people were fed up with the poor performance of the power utility.
A consumer from Khuwaja Ajmer Nagri said the power supply situation there was very poor as people had been forced to spend sleepless nights for the past many days in the hot and humid weather.
He said that intermittent power failures all the day long added to the miseries of residents. About the centralized complaint centre of the KESC, he said the telephone numbers remained busy or were not attended.
Saleem Akhtar from Khayaban-i-Sehr in Defence said that power supply went off six to seven times a day for an hour or so on Tuesday. He said the KESC must announce the schedule of load-shedding so that the residents could adjust their work to it.
A consumer from Soldier Bazaar on Shahnawaz Bhutto Road said a PMT had gone out of order and KESC officials said it would take at least five to six hours to repair.
The chief executive officer of the KESC, Frank Scherschmidt, while briefing the newsmen at his office here on Tuesday said the power utility would try to maintain smooth supply of electricity during Ramazan.
“I cannot predict there will be no load-shedding. If we are pressed by circumstances, we can exercise this option but our priority will be to provide electricity to consumers without interruption,” he added.
He said that the KESC police nabbed four copper wire thieves of an inter-provincial gang including the ringleader and termed it a good start to overcoming thefts of electric cables. He said the police investigation did not prove any connivance of KESC employees in this racket.
About power failures in various localities, the spokesman for the KESC said the power utility resorted to load-shedding on rotation of one-hour. Some localized faults developed in several areas, where rectifications work were underway, he added.
Similar complaints have been received from parts of Pak Colony, Golimar, Rexer Lane, Hasan Aulia, Mianwali Colony. Residents said that electric supply was disrupted at 7.30pm and was not restored till 8.30pm.
In Landhi-4 Zamanabad, Sector 36-B, people said they had been experiencing power breakdowns for two hours almost daily for the last five days owing to “reasons best known to the KESC”.
