KARACHI, April 17: The ongoing power crisis in the city deepened on Tuesday as consumers from almost all areas continued to complain of intermittent and prolonged power cuts.
Sources in the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) said that the power utility was facing a shortage of 500 megawatts. They said the duration of loadshedding would have to be increased further to meet the power shortage. They added that said Units No 3 and 4 of the Bin Qasim power station and Unit No 3 of the Korangi power station were not functioning.
A KESC spokesman put the power shortage between 140 and 160 megawatts. He said that Wapda was currently supplying 500 megawatts to the KESC, adding that loadshedding was being carried out across the city on a rotation basis during the peak hours. When asked why some areas experienced frequent and intermittent power breakdowns, he said: “There may be other reasons for these power failures as loadshedding is not being observed for hours.” He claimed that all units of the KESC power stations were functioning properly.
Power consumers, however, had different stories to tell. A resident of Federal B Area’s Block 12 said power supply to the area was suspended on Monday night and Tuesday for several hours.
Similar complaints were received from Khyaban-i-Mujahid and other parts of the Defence Housing Authority. Residents of Lyari’s Baghdadi and Moosa Lane localities, Saddar and Railway Colony said their power supply remained suspended for 12 hours with short intervals over the past 24 hours.
Residents of Orangi Town, Sector 11-1/2, Raja Tanveer Colony, complained of seven-hour-long loadshedding on Tuesday which resulted in a water shortage as the residents could not operate domestic pumping machines.
Reports of power suspensions were also received from Clifton, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Korangi Crossing, PECHS, Model Colony and Shah Faisal Colony where intermittent suspension of electric supply continued the whole day.
The KESC announced a shutdown from 9am to 5pm on for Wednesday in North Nazimabad, Khandoo Goth, Ziauddin Hospital, Cancer Hospital, Sajjadia, Block B and F.
The City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, echoed the concern of the residents over the deepening electricity crisis in the metropolis when he asked the KESC and the Water and Power Development Authority to take concrete measures to overcome it.
The Nazim spoke to the newly-appointed chief of the KESC, Lt-Gen (R) Syed Mohammad Amjad, and told him that the electricity crisis had been aggravating with each passing day, causing hardships to residents, particularly students appearing in matric examinations these days.
He assured the KESC chief of every possible help by the city government in overcoming the crisis. The Nazim was informed that under an agreement Wapda had to supply 700 megawatts to the KESC but it was currently supplying only 500 megawatts.
The PPP also blamed the KESC for the current power crisis in the city. PPP leaders Khurshid Shah, Nawab Yousuf Talpur and Manzoor Wasan criticised the appointment of a retired army general as chief of the KESC, and observed that Lt-Gen Amjad was given this job as a reward for fabricating references against the government’s political opponents while holding the charge of NAB chairman. They wondered why the KESC was giving him a fabulous package of Rs1.1 million a month when the power utility continued to face huge financial losses.
