Woman dies in Karachi power protests

16 hours load-shedding observed in country

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

The exasperated people of Karachi on Tuesday took to the streets in protest against prolonged power outages in stiffening hot and humid weather

Protesters in various areas of the country’s commercial hub hurled rocks at the police and the cops retaliated with tear gas and baton charge. They also arrested several protesters after talks between the two sides failed.

A 60-year-old woman reportedly died in Karachi’s Mauripur area on Tuesday following police action at a protest against hours-long load-shedding in the city.

The woman was identified as Meeran Bibi, wife of Abdul Karim. She was a resident of Hingorabad.

However, police denied that the woman died as a result of police brutality against the protesters. SSP City said the deceased was aged 70 and died a natural death. “Negotiations are underway for the autopsy of the deceased,” they added.

As power outages increase to a draining 12-hour a day, frustrated citizens took to the streets of Karachi's Mauripur area to protest. In a bid to curtail the protest, police started shelling the protesters.#etribune #news #Karachi #loadshedding pic.twitter.com/BfYOyohBcV

— The Express Tribune (@etribune) June 28, 2022

The officer said K-Electric should be booked for the death of the elderly woman and added that the protesters were out on the roads as they did not have power for the last 12 hours. “Police have footage of the incident,” he said, adding that people should not pay heed to “baseless rumours”.

The residents of the city’s densely-populated FC Area also came out on the streets to protest.

They protested outside KE’s office against the prolonged and unannounced power outages. Though the office was closed and the staff was absent, protesters vented their anger by hurling stones and chanting slogans.

Law enforcement agencies rushed to the spot and dispersed the protesters using baton charge.

Read Load-shedding makes lives of people a living hell

Residents also took to the streets and blocked roads in Liaquatabad, Jahangirabad, Nazimabad, PIB Colony, Korangi Town, Ilyas Goth, Future Morr Landhi, and Allahwala Town Korangi localities resulting in massive gridlocks across the city.

Similarly, people are stuck in traffic jams on Mauripur Road, Hub River Road, RCD Highway, Mai Kolachi Road and Boat Basin.

Gridlock at Gizri due to protest at Maripur road against electricity failure. Massive traffic jam on Mai Kolachi & surrounding roads.

Protest is continue since last night. Avoid these routes. pic.twitter.com/oWnSRAzkFx

— Halaat Updates (@halaatupdate) June 28, 2022

A spokesperson for the traffic police said that unless an official of KE talked to the protesters and the utility restored their power supply, it would be difficult to disperse them. People were also facing water shortages because of the excessive outages.

Residents said they were given power for an hour after facing two-hour of outages. In several areas, there was no electricity for up to six hours.

In Baldia Ittehad Town, Qaimkhani Colony, Gulshan Ghazi, Gulshan-e-Areesha, Scheme 33 Garden, Malir, Rizwan Society, Ilyas Goth Korangi, Burns Road, City Railways Colony, and Nusrat Bhutto Colony, people were facing power outages from 11pm to 1am and 4am to 7am. They said that there was no prior announcement for the outages.

A KE spokesperson stated that power outages were being conducted in high-pilferage areas.

As per the KE’s spokesperson, “During last 24 hours, the average power supply to Karachi has been 2,700 megawatts, including an average of 1,000MW received from the national grid.”

The spokesperson said, “Due to the rise in temperature, the power demand has also surged because of which the power shortfall, which used to be 250 to 300MW on average, has risen to an average of 400 to 500MW.”

He added that the shortfall persisted round the clock, and the utility was compelled to conduct load-shedding even during the night hours for which “we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to our consumers”.

The spokesperson further added, “Power production is also adversely affected because of fuel shortage for power generation and the steep rise in its prices on a global scale.

“Due to the non-supply of indigenous gas, KE’s power plants having the capacity to produce 200MW, are also non-operational. At the same time, because of the delay in the payment of Tariff Differential Subsidies (TDS) claims by the government of Pakistan, the utility is also facing challenges in the procurement of fuel.”

In this regard, he said, the KE had requested the federal government to release at least Rs25 billion on account of TDS.

Currently, the KE was utilising all available resources for power generation and was constantly in touch with the relevant organisations for the availability of fuel in the required quantity.

PTI Central Secretary General Asad Umar condemned the PPP government’s “fascism” in Sindh.

“In a democratic society, the people have no choice but to express their plight through peaceful protests,” he added. “Genuinely, democratic governments try to solve the problems of peaceful protesters instead of using force.”

Separately, the power shortfall in the country reached 7,500MW as the electricity generation was 21,700MW against the 29,200MW demand, sources in the Power Division said.

The duration of power outages in several parts of the country hit 16 hours per day, they added.

The current demand for power in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) region was 2,545MW, its spokesperson said.

He added that the load management duration across the region had been increased because of the 500MW shortfall and system overload.

He said power supply from various power grid stations in the region had been completely suspended.

The spokesperson said the operations staffs were present in the field to address individual grievances and appealed to the consumers to cooperate with the IESCO in this difficult situation.