KARACHI: Citizens decry hours-long power cuts amid heat
By A Reporter
KARACHI, April 5: Residents of various localities in the metropolis on Thursday complained of prolonged power failures and low voltage while the KESC, citing improvement in the situation, said its shortfall had decreased to 150-200 megawatts.A spokesman for the KESC said that CEO Lt-Gen (r) Syed Mohammad Amjad, who assumed charge of his office on Thursday, discussed affairs of the power utility with various executives and considered steps to bring about an improvement in the situation.
A complainant from Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Journalists Society said that power supply to the locality was suspended for hours with short intervals. He said that the unscheduled load-shedding had badly affected the routine life in the area. A consumer from Moosa Lane, Lyari, said that power supply to the area was suspended at 9am for five hours and again at 5pm. It was not restored until 8pm, he added.
A caller from Qasba Colony said that power supply her locality was suspended early in the morning and restored at 11am. She said it was suspended again at 3pm for two-and-a-half hours.
A resident of Raja Tanveer Colony, Orangi Town, said that the KESC suspended power supply for three hours at 7am and again at 3pm till 5.30pm. He said that the loadshedding amid sizzling heat had made life of the area people miserable.
Similar complaints of prolonged power failures were received from Defence Phase II, Buffer Zone, Chawkiwara, Saddar M.A. Jinnah Road, Malir, North Nazimabad and many other areas of the city.
LPP PLAN: The Labour Party of Pakistan has announced launching of a city-wide protest campaign against the loadshedding. An LPP spokesman while privatising the KESC, the government had held out the assurance that citizens would get uninterrupted power supply but it failed to fulfil the commitment. He observed that patients and students were the hardest hit by the hours-long power cuts.
MINISTER: Federal Minster for Ports and Shipping Senator Babar Khan Ghauri has taken a serious notice of the loadshedding, and attributed the situation to the failure of M/s Siemens.
In a statement issued here Thursday, he noted that Siemens had undertaken operation of KESC and was provided billions of rupees to improve the situation. Unfortunately, it came out with total failure and resorted to uncalled for loadshedding, which is a colossal loss to the national economy, as not only the business community was suffering losses, but educational institutions were also facing great hardship. Besides, the common man is also suffering a lot.
He said the matter would be taken up with the Siemens in Germany, adding that Karachiites would not be made to suffer anymore. He called for an immediate end to the loadshedding.
