Powerless Karachi spends first Sehri and Iftar with an unwanted guest

City’s political parties reiterate their demand that K-Electric be nationalised again

After being subjected to a major power breakdown during the first Sehri of Ramazan in the wee hours of Sunday, the citizens of Karachi were forced to endure outages during Iftar as well.

The claims of the K-Electric were proven false as power supply to several areas of the city remained suspended during Iftar. The affected localities included Malir, Rafah-e-Aam Society, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulzar-e-Hijri among several others.

With the mercury already soaring high, the citizens were forced to break their fast in the absence of electricity. Earlier, in the wee hours, the city was hit by a major power breakdown, which the K-Electric said had resulted from the extra high-tension tripping in the Jamshoro 500kV line.

However, electricity was restored by morning in different parts of the city, including Lyari, Buffer Zone, Gulshan and Gulistan-e-Jauhar through the power company’s backup system.

Earlier, National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) Managing Director Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the matter was being looked into, and the investigation into the reason for the breakdown would be completed by afternoon.

The power outage is also expected to affect the water supply to the city. The KE claimed that it was in the process of restoring power supply to major water pumping stations, including the Dhabeji and Pipri stations.

A major power outage was experienced in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, Federal B Area, Liaquatabad, Landhi, Kharadar, North Karachi, Sir Syed Town, Shadman Town and Keamari among others, as the people were busy preparing for Sehri.

The electricity breakdown also affected Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Quaidabad, Steel Town, Hub, Mauripur, Mochko, Naval Colony and their surrounding localities.

According to an NTDC spokesperson, the outage occurred due to an extra high-tension line tripping early on Sunday morning, causing generators at the Jamshoro and Hubco power plants to shut down. The spokesperson added that electricity had been provided to restart the affected generators.

The impact on the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company was significantly higher in comparison, noted the NTDC spokesperson, explaining that the national grid usually supplied 550MW of power to Karachi. “Power is expected to resume from Jamshoro and Hubco power plants in approximately two hours.”

KE spokesperson Sadia Dada, on the other hand, said the process to restore power was under way with the help of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board’s (KWSB) installations. She added that power to the Dhabeji and Pipri pumping stations had been resumed.

Almost 50 to 60 per cent of the metropolis faced a lack of electricity, Dada said, reiterating the same reason behind the power outage as that of the NTDC spokesperson.

A KWSB spokesman said there was a shortage of 150mgd of water supply due to the sudden tripping of the Dhabeji, Gharo, Hub Dam and North East Karachi pumping stations, adding that repairs at the stations were under way.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s spokesman said the CM had taken notice of the major power breakdown.

Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar told The News that he was taken aback by the outage because the KE’s senior technical staff had assured the city that there would be no power disruption in Ramazan, especially during Sehri and Iftar. “An alternate solution needs to be chalked out to deal with the power issue.”

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s National Assembly members condemned Sunday’s major power failure. The lawmakers demanded in a statement that the KE should be nationalised again.

They said that subjecting the people of Karachi to unannounced power outages was an injustice to them and quite a deplorable act on the part of the power company.

Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Mustafa Kamal also condemned the power outage, and demanded that the KE be held accountable. He reiterated his party’s demand for providing uninterrupted water and electricity to the citizens. He also asked for the KE’s nationalisation.

On May 9, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) City Council members had demanded in a unanimous resolution that the federal and Sindh governments nationalise KE again.

During the council’s session, which was dominated by criticism of the power company, the members insisted that the federal and provincial administrations as well as the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority play their role in addressing KE’s “injustices with the people”.

They demanded that the power utility be stopped from “overbilling” and that its irregularities be checked within three months.

They claimed that before being denationalised, the company received a subsidy of Rs7 billion, and that after being privatised, KE was enjoying a subsidy of Rs75 billion.

On behalf of the power company’s employees, the council members also demanded safety and security measures as well as the right to form unions.

They insisted that an FIR be registered against KE’s “injustices”, and said Karachi was facing a lot of civic problems that needed to be resolved at the earliest.