Following unrest in Liaquatabad area for the last three days against power failure, residents of Shah Faisal Colony No. 4 ransacked an office of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) in protest against prolonged power failure.
Protests were held near Khokhar Club and Eidgah Ground against continued power failure there.
During the protest, a mob ransacked a KESC office in the area, forcing the staff to run for cover. No one was injured.
A KESC official said that the mob that had ransacked the company’s office belonged to the Rafi Garden PMT and RETA plot/Usman Medicos PMT areas.
“Around 4.40pm, a mob surrounded and then attacked the KESC Khokhar Club office, demanding replacement of the faulty PMTs. They damaged the furniture and equipment while the KESC staff had to escape from the premises to avoid harm,” he added.
There are approximately 500 consumers connected to the two PMTs with a cumulative default of around six million rupees and a recovery rate of just 50 percent.
The PMTs had become non-functional due to overloading. However, the PMT would only be replaced in the defaulters’ areas upon an undertaking on the clearing of the dues, which was the policy of the company, he said.
The KESC official stated that the recent upsurge in violence against the power utility by its defaulting consumers was not only alarming but also unfortunate.
Consumers needed to realize their responsibility as well, since KESC had a stringent and zero-tolerance policy against willful defaulters and power thieves.
The power utility said that those who assumed that they could use free electricity were quite mistaken, as they were doing a wrong thing not just to themselves but also committing injustice against the majority of honest bill paying consumers.
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