KARACHI, Sept 24: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has failed to conclude an inquiry initiated one and a half months ago against those officials who were responsible for the delay in rectification of a cable fault in Model Colony.

Power riots broke out in Model Colony on Aug 10 when area residents took to the streets in protest over prolonged power breakdowns.

The chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority, Zulfiqar Ali Khan, ordered action against those KESC officials who were responsible for the delay in rectification of the cable fault that had caused a power breakdown on Aug 10 and inconvenience to the residents of Model Colony.

The KESC managing director, Brig Tariq Saddozai, also ordered an inquiry into the incident on Aug 11. At least three senior officers of the KESC were suspended. Those suspended included the zonal manager of Malir, the executive engineer of division II, and the assistant executive engineer of the Model Colony complaint centre.

KESC officials told Dawn that the inquiry was still in progress. They explained that the inquiry would find which officials were actually responsible for the prolonged power breakdown in Model Colony on Aug 10.

“The three officials will remain suspended as long as the inquiry continues. According to the efficiency and discipline rules of the KESC, those officials who have been suspended come to work and discharge their duties. A certain amount is deducted from their salaries and they are not considered for promotion,” they said.

The KESC officials said that if the inquiry exonerated the officers suspended, they would be reinstated to their posts and their annual confidential reports would be cleared.

They recalled that initially a part of Model Colony had been affected due to a link cable fault a couple of days before Aug 10 but the area had been normalized connecting it directly through the main cable. “Unfortunately the main cable also developed a fault on the morning of Aug 10 at 8am which suspended power supply of another section of the colony. While the earlier fault was being attended to, another fault occurred at 4pm, which cut off electricity of a major portion. The whole underground cable was dug up to replace the faulty piece with the new cable. About 80 per cent of the affected area was re-energized by 8pm and the whole of Model Colony was normalized at midnight after repairing the damaged underground cable.”