KARACHI, Oct 3: People in different parts of the city on Monday took to the streets and blocked road traffic in protest against prolonged power outages. The Abraaj-led KESC management blamed the national grid for a sudden drop in the supply instead of responding to the question that how much more electricity the power utility had reduced to offset the shortfall.

While many localities remained without power supply for more than 12 hours, people in the Karimabad area staged a protest demonstration against the KESC management.

They blocked a road with burning tyres and shouted slogans against the power utility. They said the KESC management was deliberately making residents suffer due to its inefficiency and accused the government of “complicity and abetting the crimes of KESC management”.

They demanded that the government take serious notice of the privatised management which they apprehended was contemplating “running away”, leaving behind a baggage of mortgaged KESC assets.

Enraged over frequent power fluctuations, KESC consumers in the commercial areas of Tariq Road and PECHS also staged protest demonstrations. They said repeated power cuts, with an interval of 10 to 15 minutes, had damaged their appliances and businesses.

The situation was also tense in Lyari, Orangi, and Federal B Area blocks 9, 14, 15, and 20, North Nazimabad, Korangi, Bhitai Colony, etc.

Residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Shah Faisal Colony, Gadap Town, University Road, Safoora Goth, New Karachi, parts of Nazimabad, North Karachi, Golimar and Garden areas suffered almost 12 hours of power loadshedding.

However, the KESC spokesman said there was no ‘material change’ in the situation since the weekend when the power utility faced a sudden shortfall of 300 to 350 megawatts in the supply from the NTDC “due to under frequency in the KESC connectivity with the national grid”. He said that the KESC system was also being affected due to problems in the NTDC network.

The power utility spokesperson said: “We are currently taking all precautionary and counter measures in order to save our system and equipment from the frequent tripping brought about by the under frequency via NTDC system. Such massive and high degree of power tripping is detrimental to our system, and expensive equipment, including power generation units,” he said.

While a vast area of the city continued to suffer frequent fluctuations and extended hours of loadshedding, the KESC spokesman claimed that the situation was well under control and that loadshedding ranged between three and six hours in the areas where the grids had not been affected by under-frequency.Informed sources, however, alleged that the KESC was unnecessarily using the ‘under-frequency problem’ to cover up its failure to increase generation in a bid to save money.

The company had a debt of over Rs175 billion within a span of three years and under the amended agreement this entire amount would have to be borne by the Government of Pakistan in case the Abraaj-led management decided to “run away”, said General Secretary of the KESC Shareholders’ Association Chaudhry Mazhar Ali. He added the people were miserably suffering due to excessive loadshedding and exaggerated bills and alleged that the management was intentionally not utilising full generation capacity in order to save money which was ultimately sent abroad.

A senior executive of the Abraaj-led KESC management, Ghufran Ata Khan, earlier told a private TV channel that the basic problem of nationwide loadshedding was circular debt.

At present the KESC was getting only 190MMCFD (million cubic feet a day) from the Sui Southern Gas Company, he said, adding that the loadshedding hours would be reduced to negligible level if the gas supply was increased.