KARACHI, Dec 5: It took the KESC a full day to restore normal power supply in many parts of the city that was suspended in wake of the winter rains of Sunday and Monday. Residents of various parts of the city, however, still complained of prolonged power failures.
Complaints about serious disruptions in the power supply were received from Defence, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, North Karachi, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Saddar, Lyari and Keamari.
Residents of DHA’s Phase-I complained of prolonged power failures and miserable sanitation facilities and said despite repeated complaints they found little help from the power utility and those responsible for civic facilities.
“We have been facing the problems, which we believe that no one in the city even in its slums had faced,” Ejaz Latif, a resident of DHA Phase-I said.
Another complainant, Dr Shamim Qureshi, said stagnant water and power failures had become the fate of Defence Phase-I.
Power supply to Phase-V suspended on Sunday had not been restored yet, a complainant residing near Khadda Market said. “No one in the KESC is there to let us know why we are subjected to such a torture,” he said.
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal said his locality was among those parts of the Gulshan Town where people could be offered not more than four to five hours of power supply since Sunday afternoon.
“This situation has created a lot of problems including the scarcity of water,” he said.
Mohammad Sohail, a resident of North Nazimabad’s Block-A, criticised the KESC officials for their failure in supplying proper electricity at a time when weather was too generous and demand was far less than what is required in summer.
He complained that power supply through two of three phases was stopped on Sunday. He said, “We have read in newspapers that after privatisation, the KESC management has handed over sensitive areas to non-capable individuals who don’t know how to handle when such situations occur.”
Prof Abdul Matin of Sector 11-A, North Karachi, said power supply to his locality was suspended at 4am and could not be restored till Tuesday night.
“Both telephone numbers of Sohrab Goth complaint centre are out of order while helpline 134 too have done nothing to rid us of this mess,” he said adding that even water reserves have ended due to the prolonged power breakdown and the situation could lead to serious law and order situation in the area.
Torrential rains have brought mercury down, which proved to be blessing in disguise for the KESC, which is facing a serious problem vis-à-vis power generation. The KESC’s two out of six units at its Bin Qasim Power Station and two out of three units of its Korangi Thermal Power Station are out of order.
The cold weather has reduced the quantum of the demand for power yet its distribution system is causing all sorts of problems for its subscribers.
Director Operations Adnan Bashir Khan claimed that almost 99 per cent of the power supply to the city had been normalised. “The situation is under control,” he said.
According to him, due to an attempt of theft on an extra-high-tension wire in Mauripur area, power supply had been disrupted in the locality but it had been rectified by Tuesday evening. He said there were problems in Badar Commercial Area and other parts of DHA, Clifton and Gulshan-i-Iqbal because of stagnant water.
“The stagnant water does not help our teams to locate faults in the underground cables and their rectification and such problems we have faced in Clifton, Bath Island, DHA and Gulshan,” he said.
Insiders in the KESC, however, said the problem lied with the worn-out distribution system of the KESC. “The power breakdowns in various parts of the city are not localised faults as being claimed by the KESC officials but the staffs who are put at the helm of affairs are not capable to sort them out and tackle them suitably,” said a source.Meanwhile, the KESC have publicised the mobile numbers of some of their senior officials and emergency centres and asked its subscribers to contact them in any emergency. They are: Syed Sabahat Ali, director network (0333-3710177), Adnan Bashir Khan, director operations (0300-9252222), emergency centre-1 (0300-2448546), emergency centre-2 (0300-2448547), emergency centre-3 (0300-2448548), emergency centre-4 (0300-2448549), emergency centre-5 (0300-2448550), emergency centre-6 (0300-2448551).
