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KARACHI, July 28: Heavy rain on Monday left the power and telephone networks of the city in tatters as many localities lost electricity for hours and many phones remained on the blink.
Calling from Defence, Phase IV, a very irate resident said a building in his locality could catch fire because a pole near the building was giving off sparks. “This started happening around 6.30pm. We called the localized complaint centre and informed them about our problem. Two hours have lapsed but they have sent no team to rectify the fault. The problem is grave because passers-by could get electrocuted.”
A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 16, called the Dawn office around 9.15pm and said his locality had been without electricity since the afternoon. “Our locality lost its electricity the moment it started to rain. I phoned my localized complaint centre and I was told that they had switched off power supply as a preventive measure. They, however, did not switch on the power supply when the rain came to an end.”
A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 4-A, spoke to Dawn around 8.30pm and said that his locality had been without electricity since 2pm.
Another resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 13-D, called around 9.15pm to say that her locality had been without electricity for the past five hours.
The resident said: “Despite the fact that the Pakistan Meteorological Department had forecast that the city would receive a rain on Monday, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation took no preventive measures to stop power breakdowns from occurring. When I called the localized complaint centres, some KESC officials conceded that no arrangements by the KESC to deal with the emergency situation in the wake of rain.”
Calling from Federal B Area, Block 18, a resident said that the previous night he had been awakened by a power breakdown. ”When I opened the window of my room to get some fresh air, I realized that it was drizzling rather feebly. I lit a match to find my electricity bill so that I could make a complaint. When I called the regional complaint cell, I was told that the technical fault in the locality would be removed only after the drizzle had come to an end. An hour after the drizzle I again called the complaint centre, and was told that the fault would be rectified by the next shift,” he said.
He added that on Monday his locality had lost electricity with the first drop of rain.
PHONES: More than 15,000 telephone connections became faulty on Monday.
Sources in the Pakistan Telecommunication Company told Dawn that on Sunday, when it had not rained as much as it did on Monday, the number of complaints was 9,300. They added that the number of telephone complaints had risen to over 12,000 on Monday.
They added that the areas most affected by rain were Landhi, Korangi, New Karachi, Orangi, Lines Area and Lyari.
A spokesman for the PTCL conceded that thousands of telephone connections had broken down on Monday.
Calling from Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 13-D, a resident told Dawn around 10pm that his locality had faced a five- hour-long power breakdown which was continuing. “I have been informed by an official of the KESC who works at the localized complaint centre that in case of an emergency, the KESC staff have been instructed to ensure that Block 13-D-2, where Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has a house, does not lose electricity. Those lesser mortals who live in other blocks of Gulshan-i-Iqbal can writhe in pain and agony, but the prime minister’s residence must remain well lit,” he said.
