KARACHI, June 18: Perturbed by unending power cuts in this hot weather, citizens went on the rampage in many parts of the city on Monday as the power utility’s overloaded and worn-out distribution network collapsed, exposing the inability of the Siemens-led management and operations team to overcome the problem.
Angry protesters took to the streets and lit bonfires near Panorama Centre on Zaibunnisa Street in downtown Saddar, causing a massive traffic jam and closure of shops for a while.
They chanted slogans against the well-paid Siemens executives. They demanded punitive action against them and the CEO who had recently said that load-shedding could continue for another five years.
A group of protesters wanted to march on the headquarters of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) located in the State Life building on Abdullah Haroon Road.
Many people felt the team heading the KESC management was ‘not competent’ enough to handle the power crisis that has badly hit industrial production. Some of them were of the view that the crisis was engineered to provide justification for the construction of the Kalabagh Dam. There was no let-up in power outages for the Karachiites, despite claims by the Sindh governor and the city nazim that there would be no load-shedding from midnight to 6am.
People were questioning the authenticity and intent of the assurances given by the government functionaries. Despite claims of enhanced local generation with additional support of 700 megawatts from the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) round-the-clock, many parts of the city witnessed such power riots.
Although the KESC officials were describing the problem as a mere ‘cable fault’, sources said that the transformer of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Grid Station developed some fault as a result of which Block 4-A and the adjoining areas were without electricity for more than 14 hours, creating a serious water shortage in the area.
The area was without electricity since 4.30am. Residents of Block 13-D and the adjoining areas also remained without electricity for more than six hours.
There was no evidence of the presence of the two of the eight mobile generators of eight-megawatt capacity, already provided to Liaquatabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and North Karachi to meet such emergencies.
There were also reports of tensions and protest from Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Liaquatabad, Jehangir Road, Bagh-i-Malir, Korangi Crossing, Karachi Administration Society, PECHS, Defence Phase I and VIII and Sea View.
Power supply to Clifton areas got interrupted from 2.45pm while Korangi crossing and adjoining areas were without electricity from 1pm for several hours.
Enraged people in Liaquatabad, Jinnah Square and Kala Board, Model Colony of Malir Town protested against prolonged electricity failures and burnt tyres on roads.
According to the power utility, it has enhanced its own generation to 1,100 megawatts while receiving 700 megawatts from the Wapda round-the-clock. This was a clear indication that the KESC was unable to meet the peak demand of 2,245 megawatts and therefore its claim of enhancement in generation was misleading.
Many areas including Yasinabad, Gulberg, FB Area blocks 2, 8, 10 and 12, various blocks of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Lyari, Korangi, Orangi Town, Shanti Nagar, Bhittaiabad, Safoora Goth, Machar Colony, Yusuf Goth, Cattle Colony, Labour Colony, and Sohrab Goth remained without electricity for many hours.
Sources said that generation and distribution should be separated. Distribution should be divided into four zones to ease maintenance and improvement work, they added.
