KARACHI, April 22: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation continued load-shedding on Saturday in various localities as it was faced with a power shortage of 150 megawatts.

The KESC spokesman claimed that the power generating unit at the Bin Qasim Thermal Power Station, which had gone out of order, had been repaired and it had started working now.

However, the complex problems in the distribution and transmission system had forced the power utility to switch off power supply intermittently in various localities.

The spokesman said the KDA-Baldia circuit was switched off as work on the Hubco-Baldia link was in progress. Due to switching-off of the circuit, other circuits started discharging heat and it became mandatory to switch them off as well, so they could work properly.

The KESC carried out one to one-and-a-half hours of load-shedding after 6pm on Saturday after it had carried out load-shedding between 10am to 1pm during the day as well.

A furious consumer from Usman Plaza in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-3 said there were several spells of power breakdowns in his locality every single day.

Another angry citizen in Sector 14-A in Shadman Town, North Karachi, said power remained off for four to five hours in his locality during the day. “The long spells of power failures has annoyed citizens, but the KESC officials do not care for their consumers,” he said.

A consumer from Sector 11-A in North Karachi said officials of the power utility did not repair or overhaul their turbines during winter season when there was no load, and it was just a case of mismanagement that maintenance work was started at the beginning of summer, he added.

Furious, he said: “A forced load-shedding must be carried out at their homes during nights for at least an hour so they can feel the anguish of common people,” he added.

A resident from Block-9 in Clifton said power went off for an hour and forty minutes on Saturday although the KESC had carried out at least one-hour load-shedding everyday.