KE responsible for heatwave deaths: Sharjeel

Karachi
The provincial information and local government minister has held the K-Electric responsible for the over 1,100 heat-related deaths in Karachi.
“The KE is not properly maintaining or revamping its obsolete system and minting billions of rupees,” Sharjeel Inam Memon told reporters on Sunday during his visit to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to inquire after the heatstroke patients admitted there.
The minister said the KE had not spent a single rupee to upgrade its supply system and the citizens of Karachi were fed up with unannounced power outages.
“The power outages in this scorching heat have killed thousands of people,” he added.
He said heatstroke victims were mostly the elderly.
Speaking about the government’s steps amid the crisis, the minister said an emergency had been imposed at all hospitals and the holidays of their employees had been cancelled.
He added that the government was also creating awareness among the citizens through the print and electronic media as to how they should protect themselves from a heatstroke.
Replying to a question, he said the KE had conceded that it was incapable of providing electricity to the citizens in accordance with the demand during the heat wave.
Sending a message to opposition parties, Memon said playing politics over the heat-related deaths should be avoided.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf wants an FIR registered against the provincial government over the heat-related deaths. Why did the PTI not respond when many people had died because of rains in Peshawar and its chief minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was dancing on a stage in Islamabad during the party’s sit-in there?”
The minister said if the power outages stopped in Karachi, there would be no more heatstroke deaths. Ironically, the power went out at the hospital during the minister’s visit there.