MQM-P MPA approaches SHC against loadshedding in District East areas

A Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA has filed a petition with the Sindh High Court (SHC) against unannounced loadshedding of 12 to 14 hours by K-Electric (KE) in five union committees (UCs) of Jinnah and Gulshan towns.

Mohammad Aamir Siddiqui, MPA elected from provincial assembly constituency PS-102, submitted in the petition that residents of five UCs of his constituency, including UC-I, UC-3, UC-5, UC-6 of Jinnah Town and UC-I of Gulshan Town, had been daily protesting against unannounced load shedding in the area.

He submitted that the KE had the responsibility to provide uninterrupted electricity to its consumers but it was carrying out unauthorised loadshedding of 12 to 14 hours in the five UCs which was badly affecting the education of students, business activities and operations of healthcare facilities.

The MPA submitted that federal and provincial governments were providing financial assistance to the KE from public exchequer and taxpayers’ money for betterment and upgradation of its system to curtail line losses but the government functionaries had miserably failed to implement the regulations and policies for the improvement of KE’s affairs.

The high court was requested to declare unannounced loadshedding in Jinnah and Gulshan towns as unlawful and order a forensic audit of the KE for the 2023-24 regarding the amount it had received after an increase in the electricity tariff.

The MQM-P legislature also sought a direction to abolish the slab system payment on consumers submitting that such a system was unjustly burdening citizens leading to extraction of millions of rupees from them in an unlawful manner.