PHOTO: EXPRESS
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah asked K-Electric (KE) officials to stop the practice of unannounced load-shedding and reduce power outages.
He urged KE to refrain from power outages during Sehri and Iftar. “I want you to exempt all pumping stations of the water board from load-shedding and setting up a hotline with the commissioner for coordination,” said Shah. He met KE CEO Tayyab Tareen and his team at CM House on Wednesday along with finance and energy minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, CM’s principal secretary Alamuddin Bullo and energy secretary Agha Wasif.
Power supply partially restored in Karachi after major breakdown
Tareen shared with the CM their Ramazan plans and assured him that no load-shedding will be carried out during Sehri and Iftar timings in both commercial and residential areas of the city. Unannounced load-shedding is not being carried out anywhere in the city, he said. Additionally, strategic locations remain exempted throughout the day, including key hospitals and water board installations.
The KE teams are on-ground and active 24/7 and have the capability to resolve any fault or issue to provide maximum relief to the people of Karachi, said Tareen, adding that the overall duration of load-shedding has been decreased.
There are, however, isolated incidents of tripping and faults due to overloading and ‘kundas’ for which the utility is conducting a rigorous anti-power-theft drive, he added. The KE faces serious resistance and sometimes violence when kundas or hooks are removed, said Tareen.
The KE authorities told the chief minister that there was a demand of 3,200MW of electricity against which total generation comes to 2,700MW. “We are putting all out efforts to overcome the shortfall and Inshallah, within the next few years, it can be done,” said Tareen.
Load-shedding brings Lyari residents to KE office
Shah told Tareen that he met the administration of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Both the organisations complained of power outages, or fluctuations and weak voltages. In both cases, water supply to the city is affected badly, he pointed out, urging KE to improve its performance.
The chief minister asked the KE authorities to share their load-shedding schedule with the Karachi commissioner, so he can monitor the schedules through his deputy commissioner and control unannounced load-shedding and power outages. He directed the commissioner to set up a hotline with KE authorities so that issues, such as extra load-shedding, prolonged outages and technical faults, can be solved through mutual coordination.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2016.
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