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Electricity issue can disrupt law and order, fears mayor

By Fasahat Mohiuddin
May 31, 2017

Unannounced load-shedding by the K-Electric is a serious matter and it could lead to a major law and order problem, said Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar while talking to The News at his office on Tuesday.

Akhtar said the federal and provincial governments should take serious notice of the critical situation, as Karachi was a city providing the highest revenue to the country and should not be taken hostage by the power utility.

He lamented that despite holding meetings with the KE high-ups, the electric company had failed to
perform up to par and the people of the city were forced to suffer during Ramazan. He vowed that the City Council would again take up the case of the power utility in its next session.

In a unanimous resolution on May 9, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s City Council members had demanded that the federal and Sindh governments nationalise the KE again.

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Led by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party held a protest demonstration in interior Sindh, where the party’s Karachi General Secretary Waqar Mehdi said the only solution was to nationalise the KE again.

Jamaat-e-Islami has been organising sit-ins in different parts of the city against the power company’s unannounced load-shedding, inflated bills and copper wire thefts.

The party’s spokesman said: “We shall continue our protest because the citizens are fed up with the electric company’s performance. We are fighting the KE in court.”

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s members of the national and provincial assemblies condemned the power company’s failure and also demanded its nationalisation.

Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Mustafa Kamal told The News that the people of Karachi could not be put at the mercy of the KE. He said his party’s demonstration at Sharea Faisal the other day was to demand water and power for the citizens.

A spokesman for the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board said that due to the sudden power breakdown, all the pumping stations of the utility were damaged, which in turn caused the city to face a shortfall of 90mgd.

Meanwhile, in a meeting held with the KE’s administration at his office, Karachi Commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan ordered the electric company to ensure uninterrupted power supply during Ramazan.

He expressed dismay over the fact that the citizens were deprived of electricity for three consecutive days, which caused city-wide protest demonstrations since early morning. “Hospitals and residential localities should not be subjected to unannounced load-shedding.”