KARACHI: Power outages continued in the metropolis on Friday, making life difficult for residents. Meanwhile, K-Electric linked the outages to a demand-and-supply gap and a shortage of furnace oil, reported The News.
President Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Sheikh Umer Rehan demanded that the government take action against unannounced load-shedding in the industrial areas of the city. He said that the shortages of furnace oil and gas to KE were a question mark on the performance of the energy ministry.
Rehan added that the people of Karachi were in sheer misery due to electricity load-shedding. As for the industries which had already been grappling with the impact of the lockdown, he said, they were facing an intensified crisis in the shape of load-shedding.
“Our production is being affected in the worse manner,” he pointed out, adding that on the one hand, the patients of coronavirus were vulnerable to the power outages, and on the other, industries were facing huge economic losses.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s Korangi leadership held a protest outside the KE’s head office in DHA. The protest was led by PTI’s Member of National Assembly Fahim Khan and Member of Provincial Assembly Raja Izhar.
Residents of Askari IV shared that they were facing power outages twice a day of one hour each.
Teen Hatti and Martin Road residents, who are facing at least four power cuts a day of three hours each under scheduled load-shedding, told The News, that the timing of the power outages keeps changing and the residents are not informed beforehand.
The situation in North Karachi was worse. One of the residents shared with The News that his house had no power at all on Friday.
"We had electricity for two hours only during the Jumma prayer in Sector 11-A of North Karachi,” he said, adding that generators and UPS don’t work in such long hours of power outages.
The situation in Nazimabad, North Nazimabad and the District East’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal was no different, with Shah Faisal Colony and Korangi’s residential areas facing worst power outages.
“We have no option but to block the roads and all the industrial goods’ movement through Korangi [in protest],” said one of the residents, Faisal Qureshi. “We have neither water nor power. What do they [authorities] think we are?” he asked.
Sindh’s energy minister, Imtiaz Sheikh, in a statement said KE’s claims of power outages due to a shortage of furnace oil seemed to be false. He said the power utility’s system constraints were a major hurdle in an uninterrupted power supply.
Sheikh said that it was unfortunate that the sole power supplier of the city couldn’t upgrade its system, and due to this it was facing difficulties during the peak demand hours.
Separately, KE on Friday assured the authorities that it would end load-shedding in the metropolis in the next 48 hours after it was announced that the power company would be provided with an additional supply of gas and furnace oil.
The assurances were given to Governor Sindh Imran Ismail by CEO KE Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi in a meeting held today at the Governor House.
The development could bring a sigh of relief for the Karachiites, who were facing immense difficulties due to intermittent but incessant power outages in the sweltering summer for the past few days.
The power issue has exacerbated the water shortage problem in the city as many people cannot operate their water pumping machines in the absence of electricity.
“Loadshedding will start reducing after 24 hours and will end in next 48 hrs,” Govorner Ismail said after the meeting and added that the federal government will provide additional furnace oil to the KE.
He said that additional gas up to 100 mmcfd from the Sui Southern Gas Company will be provided to the KE to ease the pressure of furnace oil shortage.
Governor Ismail said that due to “non-upgradation of [the] system”, the utility is unable to take 500MW of electricity in addition to 650 MW being provided from the national grid.
The CEO KE has been directed to ensure the up-gradation of their system, he said.