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KARACHI, April 12: City-based small traders have vehemently criticised power load-shedding which, they said, had badly affected their business. They urged the government to abrogate the agreement under which the KESC had been privatised.
President of the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Trade & Cottage Industries Mehmood Hamid, General Secretary Abdul Majid Chaudhry and other office-bearers, including Akhtar Hussain and Tahir Memon, observed here on Thursday that the new KWSC management had miserably failed to maintain a smooth supply of electricity.
“Despite the passage of a whole year, the KESC system could not be streamlined, turning the situation from bad to worst,” they noted, arguing that the government was inviting foreign investors but way would they make investment in a country where load-shedding of eight to 24 hours was a daily routine.
They maintained that the trader community contributed up to 70 per cent of revenue to the treasury yet it was being made to suffer this way. They alleged that the elected representatives of Karachi were paying only lip-service over this sensitive socioeconomic and human issue.
The traders have decided to convene a meeting of all trade organisations on April 14 to chalk out the future course of action on the issue of load-shedding and breakdowns, in addition to other problems like street crimes and insecurity.
MINISTER’S VIEWS: Sindh Minister for Local Government, Katchi Abadis and Spatial Development Mohammad Hussain has said that the main cause of the electricity crisis in the city is that KESC has not fulfilled its promise of establishing power generation units.
Presiding over a meeting of nazims from various parts of Sindh in his office here on Thursday, he said that due to the continuing load-shedding not only students were suffering but the entire production activities and industrial units were being affected badly. Every part of Karachi is facing electricity crisis, and long hours of unannounced load-shedding is hampering the routine life, according to him.
The meeting expressed its grave concern over the situation and noted “it is strange that the problem of load-shedding exists in Karachi and not in the rest of the country.”
The nazims said it seemed to be a conspiracy against the economic hub of the country which contributed more than 60 per cent of the revenue to the national exchequer.
They called for making public all facts that had created the electricity crisis.
They also observed that prolonged and frequent power cuts had also affected water and sewerage system, adding to the miseries of citizens.
City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal also shared the concerns of the nazims, and stated that the city government had planned setting up of a power station of 250 megawatts.—PPI
