KARACHI, May 15: While the tug of war between the Karachi Electric Supply Company management and the protesting workers did not seem to be moving towards a solution, people continued to suffer hours-long power outages, both scheduled and unscheduled, on Sunday.

The worst-hit were college students who could not prepare for their annual higher secondary school certificate exams beginning on Monday due to prolonged outages.

A number of people called Dawn offices to complain that they had made frantic calls to the power utility services centre after suffering a prolonged electricity breakdown. “A recorded message that all lines are busy kept us waiting for quite long until we hung up,” many of the callers said.

The few who finally got through said they were informed by the person attending the call that since several KESC workers had set up a protest camp outside the press club the complainants should go there and ask them to fix the problem.

Responding to Dawn queries, KESC spokesperson Anis-ur-Rehman said that since their staffers had been attacked and injured in different parts of the city, those attending to the complaints had been advised to visit the area and fix the problems in the presence of law-enforcers.

About the loadshedding schedule, he said that the power supply and demand was ‘normal’ on Sunday as the utility carried out ‘normal loadshedding’ — between three and four and a half hours. He added that the industries remained unaffected.

Ashfaq-ur-Rehman, a resident of Federal B Area’s Block 15, said that his locality had been without power supply since the early hours of Sunday. “The power went off at 1.30am owing to some fault and the supply has not been restored yet,” he said while speaking to Dawn in the evening. He said when he approached the KESC complaint cell he was informed that it was not clear how many more hours the KESC might take to remove the fault.

Qudsia Qadri from Clifton’s Block IV said that the area remained without supply for more than the scheduled hours of loadshedding. She said some residents told her that a pole-mounted transformer in the area had developed a fault, which disrupted the supply to their locality. She said when she called the KESC complaint centre she was asked to reach the press club where the protesting workers of the power utility had set up a camp or wait till they end their protest and resume work.

A complainant from Lyari, Farooq Shaikh, told Dawn that electric appliances of many residents had been damaged during the past few days due to frequent power fluctuations. He added that the power supply to the vicinity was being made through only one phase.

Mohammad Sami, a Korangi Crossing resident, had an interesting story to share with the media. He said that despite repeated complaints lodged with the KESC, no official turned up for over 24 hours to remove the fault that cause a breakdown in the area on Saturday evening.

Finally, the management of a known hospital hired a private electrician, who fixed the problem within no time and subsequently restored the supply, he added.

Speaking to Dawn, most complainants were of the opinion that the ongoing tussle between the protesting workers and the management must immediately come to an end so that the people, particularly students and patients, might not suffer any further.

KESC spokesperson Anis-ur-Rehman claimed that the staffers were threatened and attacked at many places where they had gone to remove local faults.

He said that a supervisor, Mohammad Ali, was attacked and injured by miscreants when he went to remove a fault in Korangi Sector 31F.

A KESC operation’s team working in Memon Nagar, Gulzar-i-Hijri was intercepted, attacked and tortured. He also recalled similar incidents in Mohammad Ali Society and Golimar.

Besides, he added that miscreants also burnt or damaged the equipment and distribution network of the KESC, citing Landhi Grid PMT, Polytrade overhead high-tension conductor, Fakharia overhead in the Sector 7A area, vocational overhead, IIL overhead and Millat Town overhead and a Korangi West transformer.