Notwithstanding the assurances of Sindh government, power outages continue during Sehr and Iftar in the metropolis. Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), ignoring government’s directives on the issue, continues to carry out load shedding in the city.

Reports received from Lyari, Orangi, Baldia Town, New Karachi, North Karachi, Gulshan, Gulistan-e-Johar, Malir, Landhi, Lines Area, Paposh Nagar, Malir, Shah Faisal, Abu al Isphani Road, Liaquatabad and Pak Colony suggest that two to three hours of electricity load shedding is being carried out in these areas after every two hours. These cuts continued during Sehr time also.

The Sindh government had directed KESC to ensure continued supply of electricity during Sehr and Iftar in the city.

The residents of Karachi have to endure long hours of load shedding 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 load shedding of 10-12 hours daily and according to the private utility provider Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) the duration of load shedding 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 load shedding 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 ever since 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 load shedding will take place during Ramadan”, a KESC spokesman said.

In a related development, the city industrialists have warned the government that if the power load shedding 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.