The residents of Karachi have to endure long hours of loadshedding even during the holy month of Ramadan and there seems to be no relief forthcoming in coming days or months.

Virtually every part of the city is facing loadshedding of 10-12 hours daily and according to the private utility provider Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) the duration of loadshedding during the holy month will be largely dependent on supply of gas and furnace oil.

Karachiites took a sigh of relief recently when Federal Minister Dr Asim Hussain met the officials of KESC and later triumphantly told the media that the issue of gas supply to the utility provider has been resolved and the loadshedding will be reduced drastically in the city.

KESC officials say that the workers are busy rectifying technical faults while in some areas feeders are repeatedly tripping due to unlawful connections by people, the same old excuses the company has been telling the consumer eversince it took over the management.

“Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) has assured the KESC that gas supply will be increased and if supplies of gas and oil are adequate then only 3 to 4 hours of loadshedding will take place during Ramadan”, a KESC spokesman said.

In a related development, the city industrialists have warned the government that if the power loadshedding was not stopped forthwith they 
will stop paying their electricity bills from this month as they were losing Rs2 billion daily due to low production.