KARACHI: Several parts of the city on Saturday remained without electricity for hours as the K-Electric continued to carry out unannounced and prolonged loadshedding piling miseries on people during the ongoing sweltering weather.

While the power utility rejected the reports of power outage for hours in different localities, people said unscheduled loadshedding had made their lives miserable as the power disruption always led to acute water shortage, besides affecting office-going people and womenfolk who found it impossible to do their respective domestic chores without electricity.

Also, students appearing in the ongoing intermediate exams faced hardship while taking their paper without electricity in the hot and humid weather on Saturday.

People also took to street in different localities to protest prolonged and unannounced loadshedding, but the agitation brought no significant relief to them as the power cut continued to hit their areas.

Reports of frequent power outages also poured in from Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Surjani Town, New Karachi, Federal B. Area, F. C Area, Azizabad, Saddar, Burns Road, Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, Baldia Town, Manghopir, Orangi Town, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Model Colony, Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Tariq Road, PECHS, Mehmoodabad, Akhtar Colony and Defence View apartments.

People in Sultanabad and Hijrat Colony, the two localities near PIDC, said that they came out of their houses to protest against the prolonged and unannounced loadshedding at least twice a week.

“Protests against power outages have become a routine, but actually to no avail,” Farhan Khokhar of Hijrat Colony said.

An elderly man from Sultanabad said that the power supply to his vicinity was disrupted any time of the day or night, making people furious.

“It had always been a challenging task to keep the protesting area people peaceful,” he said adding that the protestors themselves felt sorry for the commuters during their protest which caused traffic clogging on the Moulvi Tamizuddin Road, better known as Queen’s Road.

A resident of Khokrapar, Malir, said that the uninterrupted power supply in the vicinity had just become a dream. “I don’t remember a day when there was electricity in my locality for the whole day and night,” he said, adding that unannounced power outages always disturbed daily routine life.

Another resident from Korangi Crossing said that there had been loadshedding in his area for over eight hours daily. “The power supply is disrupted for at least one hour after interval of three to four hours,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2022