KARACHI, July 19: As load-shedding continued in the city subjecting citizens to sleepless nights, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation kept mum about the reasons behind the power outage.

On Thursday the utility resorted to about two hours of load-shedding during the day to overcome the shortage of over 150 megawatts as reportedly Wapda had curtailed its supply.

According to KESC sources, problems developed in the Nazimabad and Liaquatabad grids in the evening as the overhead line from Haroonabad to Liaquatabad grid apparently tripped. The problem has persisted because the KESC has not revived the link of the grid from the Civic Centre.

Residents were getting enraged due to the continuing voltage fluctuations and outages. Adding to their problems was the fact that the utility’s management was not responding to their complaints.

Residents of Defence Phase-I complained that they had to endure a power outage for more than five hours on Wednesday afternoon. They accused the KESC complaint centre staff of being non-responsive. Some claimed that KESC’s Chief of Operations, Mr Adnan Bashir Khan, was not responding to their frantic calls on his cell phones.

The continuing power outages and the utility’s failure to repair faults has also drawn criticism from the lawyers and trade unions, who rejected its privatisation.