KARACHI, May 11: Though power breakdowns occurred in many localities of the city on Wednesday, Malir Cantt which suffered a 14-hour power cut remained the worst hit. Residents of Malir Cantt quoted their regional complaint centre as saying that a cable fault, which remained undetected for a long time, was responsible for the prolonged power breakdown in the locality.

“But prolonged power breakdowns are not an uncommon feature of life in Malir Cantt. We had a five-hour power cut day before yesterday. An official of the regional complaint centre told me that since KESC employees worked in shifts, they are allowed to leave work unfinished when their shifts ends. This mechanism is responsible for prolonged power cuts,” a resident said.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 16, said power breakdowns occurred in his locality at night. “Nocturnal power cuts have made us all extremely irritable. Those who have to go to work early in the morning are most inconvenienced by power breakdowns at night. And yet the KESC insists that it does not carry out loadshedding,” said a Federal B Area resident.

Calling from PECHS, Block 2, a resident said his locality had experienced a two-hour power breakdown ever since the KESC announced that it would receive an additional 100 megawatts.

“I was delighted to learn that the KESC would have more electricity at its disposal. I hoped that fewer breakdowns would now occur. I had no idea that power breakdowns would start to occur regularly in spite of availability of greater electricity,” he said.

A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 16, said his locality experienced brief power breakdowns every day.

Meanwhile, the KESC has finished work on an alternative cable linking Mai Kolachi with Clifton.

A spokesman for the KESC said the establishment of the alternative link had become urgent because of ongoing development work at an underpass near Schon Circle.

“This 4.5-mile alternative overhead cable will be used in place of the underground oil-filled cable which completed the ring connecting Korangi West grid, Gizri grid, Queen’s Road grid and Clifton grid. The entire exercise was carried out by KESC engineers within two weeks using the power utility’s resources,” he said.

The spokesman said that the development work could have caused damage to the main underground cable, plunging half of the city into darkness.