Massive power breakdown plunges half the city into darkness

Karachi
Half the city plunged into darkness due to a major electricity breakdown triggered by the tripping of four units of the Bin Qasim power station on Tuesday night.
The breakdown affected 50 percent of the city’s grid stations, K-Electric spokesman Osama Qureshi told Geo News.
He said the Bin Qasim units stopped working after the tripping of a transmission line following a blast. He said KE teams were looking into the problem.
The affected areas included Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Jamal, Dalmia, Karsaz, Saddar, Keamari, Lyari, Federal B area, Baldia Town, Orangi Town, Clifton, Akhtar Colony, Defence and Mahmoodabad.
The electricity breakdown, which occurred at around 9pm, continued past midnight, causing problems for citizens.
People offered Taraveeh prayers without any running fans or air-conditioning at mosques.
The KE spokesman said that in case of the snapping of a high-tension wire, it would take his company about three to four hours to restore the power supply.
He said teams had been assigned to find out what had happened and to fix the problem.
The power failure also caused the water supply from the Dhabeji, Gharo, and Pipri pumping stations to halt.
A spokesman for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board said the power supply stopped owing to back pressure after electricity went out at the pumping stations.
He said the crisis would lead to a serious water shortage in the city on Wednesday (today).
The K-Electric has taken a lot of flak for failing to overcome power outages over the past months.
During the recent heatwave that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in Karachi, both residents and the authorities accused the power utility of making matters worse by subjecting consumers to hours-long electricity cuts. Some areas remained without electricity for several days in a row.
Talking to The News, Sindh Minister for Local Government Sharjeel Inam Memon said he had just heard about the power breakdown and was trying to gather facts.
However, he mentioned he had earlier said that the KE had an obsolete power supply system and it was just minting money from the people of Karachi.
The minister said the KE was not making any kind of investment to improve the system. He warned that the problems would aggravate with the passage of time if the supply system was not overhauled.
He said repeated requests had been made to the federal government to fix problems with the KE, but all those requests had been ignored. Memon asked the federal government to take notice of negligence on the part of the KE.