Criminal cases should be lodged against K-E, demands PSP

Party leader bashes power utility for power outages during Ramazan

KARACHI: The Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) has demanded lodging of a criminal case against the K-Electric (K-E) chief for prolonged power outages in Karachi since the start of Ramazan.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday at the Karachi Press Club, PSP Senior Vice-Chairperson Dr Sagheer Ahmed said life in the financial hub of the country had become miserable due to these power outages.

"People have been protesting on the streets during sehri and iftari times in this holy month of fasting," he lamented, adding that the private power utility was also overcharging consumers.



K-E has been run by United Arab Emirates' investment company Abraaj Group since 2009, four years after its privatisation. The group, however, sold a major $1.77 billion stake of the power supplier to China's Shangai Electric.

The PSP leader said the authorities should recover from K-E the money it looted from its over two million consumers on the pretext of service charges and units billed.

He urged the Centre and Sindh to announce a Rs200 billion package for Karachi to build infrastructure. He said that for the past nine years the city has been left neglected and unattended.



"Karachi is a mini Pakistan and makes up 10% of the whole country's population. The federal government should announce a Rs100 billion package for it under the National Finance Commission award," said Ahmed, demanding a similar amount from the province.

Similar packages should also be announced for Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur and other cities in Sindh, he said, hoping to hear a positive response from the governments. "We don't want to manipulate things against some government. We just want the rights for the people of this city."