KARACHI, June 28: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) on Thursday faced yet another setback when a recently-repaired generation unit collapsed, leaving a large chunk of the city in darkness.

Meanwhile, MQM members of the National Assembly have demanded that the KESC should not collect June’s electricity dues from Karachiites. An MQM MNA reported that in a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had assured a sympathetic consideration of their demands.

Unit 4 of the Bin Qasim power project, which was reactivated on June 14 after four months of major repairs undertaken by Siemens, went out of action for the second time since reactivation. The problem was compounded when the KESC’s KDA-Baldia circuit was neutralised and there was no electricity for more than two hours in Gulshan-i-Maymar, FB Area Blocks 10 and 14 as well as the adjoining areas, Orangi, Baldia, Saeedabad, North Karachi, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, and parts of Liaquatababad and Gulberg.

The power supply from KANUPP and PASMIC also remained suspended for unspecified reasons, while the supply of electricity to parts of Landhi, Malir, Korangi and some portions of DHA was affected.

Many residents remain powerless since the utility has not been able to rectify the faults. The electricity crisis has created led to a serious shortage of water, particularly in apartment buildings. However, KRSC’s director operations Adnan Bashir Khan, and director network Sabahat, did not respond to calls made to their cell-phones.

KESC was bailed out by WAPDA by supplying 650MW during the day to meet the 1950MW demand.