KARACHI, Nov 5: People on Sunday suffered frequent and prolonged power failures in various localities as the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation failed to address complaints and complete maintenance work in time.
The power utility had announced power shutdown for maintenance and improvement work in certain areas on Sunday from 6am to 4pm but people remained without electricity for hours after the announced period. Even North Nazimabad, Shahrah-i-Liaquat and some areas in Defence Housing Authority where shutdown was not carried out, the residents complained of power failures.
The most affected localities were Blocks 17, 18, 19, and 20 of F.B Area, where the power remained suspended for seven hours from 2:30pm to 9:30pm. The residents of these areas suffered another five-hour long power failure from 7:15am to 12:30pm.
Besides, all other blocks in Federal B Area experienced frequent power failures. A resident of Block-15 said that the power supply continued playing hide-and-seek all the day and it remained off for more than three hours in the evening.
Officials in the power utility said that they had failed to wind up the maintenance work by 4pm and they needed further five hours to complete the task. Sources in the KESC said that the officials completed the maintenance work on Valika Grid but the fault developed as soon as they tried to switch on the network. Due to the fault, the power went off in those areas also where shutdown was not announced.
A resident in Block-17 said that the power shutdown by the KESC was being carried out for an hour or two everyday despite the fact that weather had turned pleasant and the demand decreased considerably. “If there is no disparity between demand and supply of power, the power outages for an hour or two are incomprehensible,” he added.
A resident in North Nazimabad Block-L, Shuja, said that the power played hide-and-seek on Sunday. “I have tried to lodge complaints at the centralised complaint centre but there was no response,” he added.
Another resident in Sector 11-A North Karachi said that the power supply went off at around 6pm and did not return till night. He said: “I have made several attempts on 118 and 134 but I got no response. I also tried to lodge complaint at local complaint numbers 9246121 and 9246118 and the operators did not give any satisfactory reply,” he added.
A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block-20, Riaz Ahmed complained that the supply of electricity to his locality was disrupted at around 2.30am. People of the area spent sleepless night, as the power supply was restored at around 4am.
Complaints of power failures were also recieved from different phases of Defence.
