KARACHI, Nov 14: People across the city braved prolonged and unannounced shutdowns and frequent power failures on Tuesday.
Due to the mismanagement by the operation and management contractor of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC), the people had to suffer power failures in their respective localities.
One of the six power generating units in Bin Qasim Power Station (BQPS), which was switched on after maintenance work on Monday, tripped on Tuesday morning.
The KESC had shut down Unit No. 5 at the BQPS on Sept 5, which was producing up to 150mw electricity. The unit remained shut for maintenance and it was to produce more than 200mw power after its maintenance.
The management shutdown another Unit No.4 on Monday soon after the Unit No.5 had been switched on. Official sources in the networking department said that the stability of the Unit No.5 was not monitored before the shutdown of Unit No.4.
On Tuesday, both of the units went out of order and the KESC faced a shortfall of power generation, which compelled the utility to resort to power load shedding across the city on rotation basis for 60 to 90 minutes.
The official sources said that the power utility had shutdown various localities for system improvement, which included Nazimabad and Federal B. Industrial Area.
People from various localities in Nazimabad said that the power went off at around 10 in the morning and was not restored by 8pm. Similarly, people in Federal B. Industrial Area said that the power supply was discontinued at around 8am and it was restored by 1:30pm.
They said that several calls were made to the KESC complaint centres and the officials said that it was an announced shutdown.
Official sources said that the power supply to areas in Liaquatabad was suspended due to the overheating of circuits.
