Fault in national grid leaves city without power

Several locations of Karachi, including industrial areas, suffered a prolonged power breakdown on Friday due to a fault in the national grid.

The power breakdown occurred in the morning hours. District Central was affected the most due to the power cut as almost all of its areas, including Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, North Karachi, New Karachi, Buffer Zone and Federal B Area, had no electricity. Several other areas of the city, including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Saeedabad, Lyari, Landhi, Korangi, Bin Qasim, Garden, Baldia Town and Defence, also suffered power outage.

The power cut also affected many industrial areas in the city, including SITE, Korangi Industrial Area, Federal B Area and Super Highway. It took several hours before the power supply was restored to many areas. In many locations where the power was restored earlier, residents complained of low voltage which caused damage to their electrical appliances.

According to the KE, the power breakdown occurred due to tripping in the national grid. A spokesperson for the power utility said the power breakdown, which also affected Balochistan and several areas of Sindh besides Karachi, was caused by the tripping of 500KV transmission line between Dadu and Guddu.

The power outage also affected water supply in the city as the Dhabeji, Pipri and other pumping stations were also affected due to the absence of electricity. Commenting on the water issue, District Municipal Corporation Central Chairman Rehan Hashmi said various pumping stations in District Central could not pump water due to the absence of power.

According to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the power supply to the pumping stations stopped at around 9:20 am and restored at around 12:25 pm. The water board advised the citizens to consume water prudently as the city could not be supplied its due share of water due to the disruption of power at the pumping stations.

The KE, in a series of tweets, maintained that the efforts to restore power were under way. However, many areas, including Korangi, Baldia Town, Gizri, Landhi, Saeedabad, Hub, Bin Qasim, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B Area, Lyari, Garden and Landhi, were without power till the evening.