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KARACHI, May 1: The residents of Soldier Bazaar and adjoining areas spent a sleepless night as power cables of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation broke at least four times over the past 24 hours.
A spokesman for the KESC blamed those who are putting up the Rabi-ul-Awal illuminations for causing the severing of the power cables in the locality, adding that such incidents had increased over the past few days.
He said it was not immediately known whether those who were putting up the illuminations in the area had obtained legal temporary connections from the KESC.
A resident of Soldier Bazaar No 1 said that his regional complaint centre had given him different reasons for the prolonged power breakdown at different points in time.
"They first said that loadshedding was responsible for the power shutdown. Later on, they said that some power cables had broken. In any case, they never told me exactly when the power supply would be restored."
A resident of Parsi Colony told Dawn that his locality had also experienced long spells of power breakdown the previous night.
He said: "The reason why the KESC has not responded to power complaints in Parsi Colony with alacrity is that it is well known that the residents of this locality would never resort to violence. KESC teams attend to the complaints of those localities promptly where residents take to the streets to protest against long spells of power breakdown."
Sources at the centralized complaint centre of the KESC told Dawn that complaints about power failure had been received from many localities of the city.
However, the KESC spokesman said that the number of power breakdowns had come down considerably. "These days the number of power breakdowns ranges from 1,500 to 2,000. This figure is very low in comparison to the number of power cuts in the past."
He made clear that there was no reason for the KESC to carry out loadshedding when it had enough electrical power to meet its demand. He added that power demand was low on the Labour Day which is a holiday.
RELIEF OPERATIONS: Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Mutawakkil Kazi called officers of the KESC and KWSB at the Chief Secretary's House on Saturday and told them to be prepared for emergency relief operations in view of coming summer and rainy seasons, adds PPI.
He was briefed by the officers of the two bodies with regard to crisis management.
KESC Managing Director Brig Tariq Saddozai informed the CS about the emergency plan of the corporation.
Mr Kazi asked water board officers to use generators for supplying water to the areas seriously hit by shortage. He said a foolproof regulation and distribution system be adopted.
He also allowed the Rangers' patrolling and monitoring, so that the officers concerned could remain alert all the time and perform their duties efficiently.
He said action would be taken against the officials if complaints of water thefts and leakages were not redressed.
DCO Mir Hussain Ali and KWSB MD Shahid Saleem were also present.
