KARACHI, March 11: The ill-maintained transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation broke down with the first drop of rain in the metropolis on Sunday, causing inconvenience to hundreds of thousands of people.

From posh neighbourhood to slums, frequent power breakdowns that persisted for seven to eight hours hit almost every locality of the city, adding to the miseries of the already suffering people.

Till the filing of this report, many city areas were wrapped in darkness.

KESC sources said that the gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that some 25,000 to 30,000 complaints were received at the centralised complaint centre, 118, alone till 9pm.

They said that the complaints of prolonged power failures were received from Federal B Area, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Korangi, Landhi, Defence, Clifton, Defence View, Mahmoodabad, Lyari, the Old City areas, Garden, Jamshed Quarters, Lines Area, Liaquatabad, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, New Karachi, Surjani Town, Orangi Town, Site and other areas.

As the rain began some 500 to 600 out of the total 900 feeders of the power utility tripped, causing widespread disruption of power supply in the metropolis.

However, a spokesman for the KESC claimed that only 60 to 70 feeders had tripped.

People complained that power supply was disrupted in their localities at about 11am and it cam on for half an hour after every two hours. Many areas experienced hour-long power breakdowns and power supply could not be restored till late in the night.

A large number of people complained about poor response of the KESC’s centralised and local complaint centres, where the staff concerned did not bother to register their complaints.

A resident of Defence Phase II said that his locality was deprived of electricity for the previous eight hours and KESC officials informed him that power supply in his area could not be restored before 1am.

A resident of Federal B Area Block 15 said that power supply was disrupted in his locality at about 11am and took five hours to restore. “However, it again broke down at about 6pm and could not be restore till 9:15pm,” he added.

A resident of Malir Cantt said that his locality experienced five power breakdowns of two hours to 40 minutes of durations.

Also, a resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block 10 said that there was no electricity in his area for five hours.

Complaints of low voltage and fluctuation in power supply were also received from different city areas.

The KESC spokesman claimed that 60 to 70 power feeders got tripped due to the rain and power supply from the affected feeder was normalised within two hours.

However, he said power supply could not be restored in some areas of Defence and Clifton due to the accumulation of rainwater inside the sub-station and on the roads.

He said that rain emergency teams of the power utility worked round-the-clock to restore power supply in the affected areas.

He said that power supply would be normalised in all affected areas by late night.