No load-shedding after November 2017?

Letter April 22, 2018
Karachi is enough to prove the claims made by successive PMs and the ministers concerned as false

KARACHI: Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister, had given the deadline of November 2017 to end load-shedding in the country. The current frequency of power outages in Karachi is enough to prove the claims made by successive PMs and the ministers concerned as false and misleading.

During the ongoing month of April, K-Electric has blamed load-shedding on Sui Southern Gas Company for inadequate gas supply. Power outage thrice in a single day in the vicinity of Soldier Bazaar during morning (10 to 11am ), afternoon (3 to 4pm ) and evening (6 to 7pm), and with a different schedule, almost all the areas across the city are being subjected to hours of unannounced load-shedding.

The issue of load-shedding and disrupted power supply has been affecting not only the individual daily lives of the Karachiites but also the economic-business activity in the city. Where non-commercial consumers are bound to make alternative arrangements such as UPS and generators, many commercial consumers and business units have moved to other cities and even in fact other countries due to the negative business environment. Textile is one such example of the disastrous impact power shortage has caused. For non-commercial users the situation would be even worse during the months of June and July due to soaring temperatures.

The government and its ministers should not make false claims by giving tentative dates for the end of load-shedding as now it has become pretty much a routine and a part of the daily lives of the citizens here, where many have rather made peace with the fact that things might never change in the long run.

Ashfaq Sharif

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2018.

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