KARACHI, Aug 3: Unannounced loadshedding, as well as intermittent power breakdowns, continued to plague the lives of the people of the city.

Insiders told Dawn that following a row between the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and the Water and Power Development Board over responsibility for loadshedding, the city power utility chose to remain tight-lipped on Saturday.

“The fact is that because of a technical fault on the Wapda network our supply has been restricted, leaving the KESC with no option but to carry out limited loadshedding. But because the Wapda chairman happens to be KESC chief as well, no official statement about loadshedding will be forthcoming,” sources in KESC said.

Calling from Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 14, a resident said that his locality had been without electricity for more than three hours — from 11am to around 2.30pm. “This cannot be loadshedding because the KESC says it is carrying out loadshedding for only one hour. My problem is that I work in shifts. I want to sleep undisturbed but such frequent power breakdowns leave me with a splitting headache.”

A resident of North Karachi, Sector 11-A, said that while her locality had electricity, Sector 11-B was in the grip of a power breakdown.

“My cable operator is based in Sector 11-B. I was watching a music programme on TV when television transmission got interrupted. When I called my cable operator, I learnt that his block was without electricity.” She added that her block had faced power breakdowns earlier in the day.

A resident of Scheme 33 near the University of Karachi said his locality had experienced a power breakdown from 4pm to 6.30pm.

Calling from Saddar and neighbouring localities, some residents said their power supply had been restored after two-hour-long power breakdowns.

Calling the Dawn office at around 6pm, a resident of Garden East off Britto Road, said his locality had been without electricity since 2pm. “This cannot be loadshedding because it is not supposed to last that long.”

A resident of North Nazimabad, Block N, phoned Dawn to complain about a power breakdown as a result of tripping in a high-tension wire.

Kashif Ahmed, a resident of Nazimabad, Block 4, said that his locality experienced power shutdowns almost every day at around 1pm. “The KESC complaint centre of my area said that loadshedding was being carried out for three hours every day. When I called 118, they said that there was some cable fault in my area.”

A resident of the Shah Faisal Colony told Dawn that his locality had lost electricity at around 10am and had regained it at 2.30pm.

A caller from Korangi Industrial Area told Dawn that the entire area had been facing intermittent power closures since morning.

Calling from Old Golimar, Qadimi Mohalla, Nawaz Ali said that his locality had faced prolonged and intermittent power breakdowns for the past one week. “There is a pole-mounted transformer near Mama Murad Hotel which keeps on fluctuating every one hour. Because the pole-mounted transformer is very overloaded, it gets tripped very frequently. Somebody then switches it off with a long stick. When it has cooled down after a while, it is again switched on using the same stick.”

Mr Ali said that many times the area residents had asked the power utility to change the transformer but to no avail.

Calling from Mohammad Ali Society, a resident told Dawn that his locality had lost power supply early in the morning.