KARACHI: A large number of areas in the city were plunged into darkness a few minutes after sunset on Friday as a seemingly “localised minor fault” ended up taking more than half-an-hour to get fixed.

As the city’s south district suffered a nearly complete blackout on a day when power consumption was already on the lower side due to it being a national holiday (Pakistan Day), the K-Electric insisted that the power breakdown had not occurred due to a major fault The neighbourhoods of Garden and Old City areas, Clifton, DHA, Soldier Bazaar, Burns Road, Ranchhore Lines, Lines Area, several localities along the Sharea Faisal and dozens of other residential blocks suffered the most. According to a K-Electric spokesperson, the blackout, which lasted between 15 and 35 minutes, had occurred due to a minor fault in the power system, which originated from Korangi.

“It was a localised minor fault,” he said. “The KE teams worked on the matter as top priority and power was restored within half an hour in most of the areas, with the exception of some spots in Korangi and Garden area,” he added.

Although power supply to the affected areas was restored in less than an hour, Friday’s blackout comes as a grim reminder for Karachiites who suffered major and frequent power breakdowns last year during summer.

Following growing complaints and orders from the Sindh High Court, a team of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) visited Karachi and found serious flaws in the “distribution and generation” systems of the K-Electric which had led to prolonged outages in the city. Karachi had witnessed one of the worst power crises in recent history that began on the first day of Ramazan last year, and lasted the next several days.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

Time to deliver
Updated 11 Nov, 2024

Time to deliver

Pakistan must display a serious commitment to climate change adaptation and mitigation at home.
Smaller government
11 Nov, 2024

Smaller government

THE IMF bailout programme has put the government under pressure to curtail its spending, especially current...
Unsafe inheritance
11 Nov, 2024

Unsafe inheritance

DESPITE regulations, the troubling practice of robbing women of their rightful inheritance — the culprits are ...
Quetta bombing
Updated 10 Nov, 2024

Quetta bombing

THERE appears to be no end to the stream of violent incidents occurring in Balochistan, indicating a clear failure ...
Burdened courts
10 Nov, 2024

Burdened courts

ACCORDING to recent reports, the new chief justice has set about implementing a recently adopted plan for clearing...
Playing in Pakistan
10 Nov, 2024

Playing in Pakistan

MOHSIN Naqvi, Pakistan’s cricket chief, has shown a brave face. Now he has to be unrelenting and put the onus on...