KARACHI: Loadshedding planned in many city areas: Hubco-Baldia link delayed
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 24: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation will carry out a group-wise load-shedding twice a day in a major portion of the city from Tuesday as the work on the power link between Hubco and Baldia circuit, which was to be completed by April 30, has been delayed for a week.
People of the city would suffer a one-hour suspension in power supply during the daytime amid the hot and humid weather, while they would again be deprived of electricity for one-and-a-half hour between 7pm and 1am till May 7.
The KESC has undertaken the load-shedding at a time when the Secondary School Certificate examinations are going to begin on Tuesday.
The decision to link Hubco with Baldia circuit had been taken in the year 2003 and the project had been estimated at Rs3 million. The contract of the project was awarded to Siemens and the deadline set for its completion was April 30, 2006.
A spokesman for the KESC claimed that no load-shedding was carried out on Monday except in some areas, including Orangi Town and North Karachi, where a fault had developed in the Valika-Baldia circuit. He said that KESC engineers and staff managed to rectify the fault and the power supply to the affected areas was restored in less than two hours.
The spokesman said that load-shedding would not be carried out due to power shortage, but it would was prompted by the overload on circuits as the KDA-Baldia circuit would remain switched off till the work on Hubco-Baldia link was completed.
The areas to be affected have been divided into four groups and the load-shedding will be carried out group-wise.
He said that other circuits were taking loads due to which they would be shut off. The grids that would be affected included Baldia, Clifton, Gizri, Lyari, Mauripur, North Karachi, Orangi Town, Queen's Road, Lalazaar, Site, Valika, and West Wharf. All areas connected with these grids would undergo load-shedding twice a day. However, he maintained, the load-shedding was not mandatory, and it would only be carried out if inevitable, whether in daytime, in the night hours or both.
The spokesman said that loadshedding in other areas would not be carried out.
On Monday also, people from various areas complained of prolonged power failures in their localities. An irate power consumer, Shaukat Ali said that load-shedding was being carried out in the Zaibunnisa Street area from 7pm to 8:30pm every day. He said that the power supply would remain uninterrupted along the road itself, but the adjacent locality suffered two-and-a-half-hour power suspension as a routine.
Ms Masooma, a resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block 16-A, said that power supply was discontinued at 8am on Monday and restored after four hours. She said that her husband came home late in the night from his duty and could not have a sound sleep due to the power failure.
PROTEST: Scores of angry power consumers took to the street in several localities of Mauripur, Bihar Colony and Shershah areas in protest against the prolonged breakdowns occurring frequently in their localities over the past several days.
Groups of perturbed people on Monday night marched towards Mauripur Road and disrupted traffic at the ICI section of the main thoroughfare, causing jams, which persisted till last reports came in at about midnight.
A similar situation developed in Shershah area where people raising slogans against KESC blocked the main Shershah Road. Power supply to Shershah and adjoining areas had been suspended early on Sunday morning following the damage caused to a 132kv cable by a mechanised vehicle employed in the ongoing uplift work. The KESC has maintained that it would take a couple of days to get the damaged cable repaired.
Meanwhile, protesters at various places complained that they had not only been made to sizzle in the humid and sultry weather conditions, but were also deprived of water due to the power breakdowns. They maintained that the absence of both water and power for several days had made their lives extremely miserable.
