KARACHI: Power riots break out again in Pak Colony
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 17: Riots broke out again on the second consecutive day, Monday, in Pak Colony where people suffered a long spell of power breakdown. The affected area appeared to be the centre of marble industry housing a huge number of units.
As power crisis has badly hit the industry, the owners of these units have been expressing resentment over the loss they could suffer due to the situation. They maintain that the long spells of power failure ultimately delay execution of manufacturing orders within the stipulated time to the disappointment of their foreign customers.
The businessmen, as well as the residents of Pak Colony, had heaved a sigh of relief when electricity was restored after 22 hours of breakdown on Sunday. However, they lost temper again when power went off only two hours later. The new spell ran into 10-12 hours, people in the area said.
However, a spokesman for the KESC denied any power breakdown in Pak Colony and its adjoining areas on Monday. A senior police official in SITE Town said that power supply had discontinued in the morning prompting people to take to the street in Pak Colony and Old Golimar. They pelted stones at moving vehicles and lit bonfire.
The police reached the troubled spot but came under the protesters' attack. The SHO of Pak Colony suffered injuries when he was hit with a stone. The protesters warned that they would attack the Pak Colony police station if power supply was not restored immediately.
A senior police official said that the police had calmed down the protesters by maintaining that they would try to get the power supply resumed as soon as possible, even though it was none of their business. The official claimed that on this assurance, the people ended their protest and dispersed.
He said that a delegation of marble association had called on an officer in the SITE Town police office to apprise him of the possible losses they would have to suffer due to the intermittent long spells of power failures. The delegation, he added, maintained that they had to meet the deadline of shipment set by their foreign customers.
On his part, the KESC spokesman said that the work for the replacement of a 20-MVA transformer in Haroonabad grid with a 40-MVA transformer had been started on Saturday and was supposed to be completed in 10-15 days. The replacement would enhance the load capacity as per the local demand, he added.
He claimed that in view of the protest against disruption in power supply on Sunday in Pak Colony, the replacement work was suspended and power supply to the area and adjoining localities was not disrupted on Monday.
The spokesman further claimed that no load shedding was being carried out in the city. "We announce load shedding in a particular area where it is required for some technical reasons," he added.
The spokesman said that the KESC had been entertaining 2,500 to 3,000 complaints every day at its 70 complaint centres across the city. "The number of complaints has come down from 12,000 during last summer to 7,000 a day this year," he said.
Meanwhile, residents of Block 17, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, some blocks in Federal B Area, Nagan Chowrangi, Block 4-A in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, etc., on Monday complained of power failure in their areas.
A perturbed citizen in Gulistan-i-Jauhar said that the power failure had become a routine in the area. The KESC spokesman insisted that there was no cause of major power breakdowns in the city. All the complaints attended appeared to be localized faults which were removed accordingly, he added.
