The first drop of rain, and Karachi went powerless — well, much of it. And while the rain disappeared after an hour, on Monday afternoon, the power did not reappear — for 15 hours at a stretch in many areas of what is the biggest and most modern city of the country. Still better, as restoration work in some areas continued into the next afternoon. In many others, the electric power kept playing hide-and-seek for hours and hours. Protests were also reported from some parts. Voltage fluctuation was a rampant complaint too. It was pretty obvious, therefore, that the K-Electric complaint number — 118 — mostly remained dead or responded through recorded messages. Overwhelmed with complaints it must have been.
Not a new story, though, this has been. The disappearance of electricity with the first drop of rain is a kind of folklore for Karachiites, coming down from generations. Nothing has changed over decades in terms of vulnerability of the city’s power infrastructure to the burst of clouds. We have heard money going into the power infrastructure from time to time, but not to the extent of ensuring the needful. While the shortage of power has been pretty much catered to, it’s time for the authorities concerned to go for a complete overhaul of the power supply system under a properly worked-out plan. And it’s time for elected representatives to play their role in the context.
Meanwhile, the rain exposed the municipality’s performance too. Even though the amount of rain was small, the disturbance it caused in the city was big. Since the stormwater drains were attended to just a day before a cloudburst looked certain, just 45 millimeters of rain proved enough to inundate the roads and streets in the city. Accumulating rainwater caused traffic jams at places in the city, with reports of motorists returning home even after midnight. And above all, six precious lives were lost in rain-related incidents. All this is because we seldom prepare for the rainy day.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2020.
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