KARACHI, Sept 28: Despite tall claims by the officials concerned about an uninterrupted power supply during the holy month of Ramazan, there has been no respite from the unannounced load-shedding and frequent power failures in the city amid sultry weather conditions.

The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation carried out two-three hours load-shedding in most parts of the city on Thursday and in some areas, consumers complained of suspension in power supply running into many hours.

A KESC official, requesting anonymity, said that inadequate input and weak transmission system were responsible for the power crisis in the city.

“At present, KESC receives 2,100 megawatts from different sources as against the demand of 2,200 megawatts, which shows a shortfall of 100 megawatts. This is the problem prompting the KESC to carry out one-two hour load-shedding in every part of the city,” he said. Moreover, he added, the localised faults like tripping of lines and burning of PMTs developing frequently owing to the weak and outdated supply and distribution system had worsened the situation.

The official said that slackness and poor performance of the power utility’s maintenance department was ultimately prolonging the suspension of power supply.

There are 104 complaint centres working in different parts of the city where hundreds of complaints about power failure are lodged daily, but the KESC is not in a position to deal with such big number of complaints, according to the official.

He said that the KESC’s failure to carry out maintenance work on a permanent basis was yet another reason for frequent breakdowns, particularly in the city’s suburbs. Sources in the KESC said that the corporation’s management had failed to replace and strengthen the weak and outdated distribution system.

They observed that the KESC’s performance in maintenance work had badly been affected following its takeover by a private company, which had not yet taken any remarkable measures to rectify and strengthen the system.—Online

Our staff reporter adds: People from different areas of the city continued to complain of prolonged power failures and indifferent attitude of the concerned KESC officials on Thursday.

Mr M.M. Siddiqui from Block-2, Clifton, called Dawn office at around 8pm to point out that his locality was without power for the past 11 hours. “I have lodged many complaints on 9251419-20 and 23 but to no avail. Even the people on the other end did not cite any reason for the prolonged power failure,” he maintained, adding that consumers had no option open but to remain without power.

A woman consumer from the same area said that the power supply was suspended at Sehri time and was restored for two-three hours during the day before it was suspended again. She said that the KESC officials were not responding to her complaint and queries properly.

Mr Babar from 7-D/2, North Karachi, said that people of his locality had become fed up with the intermittent power failures. He said voltage was very low and even motors to pump water into the overhead tanks did not work, creating water scarcity. He said many complaints were lodged with the local complaint centre but no improvement had so far been witnessed.