Sindh govt shifting blame to hide its own misgovernance: K-Electric
K-Electric spokesperson says company is supplying non-stop power supply to all government hospitals in Karachi
PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
As the Sindh government continues to shift blame for Karachi's heatwave deaths on K-Electric, the city's power utility company decided on Monday to respond to the provincial government's allegations.
A K-Electric spokesperson said the Sindh government was issuing statements against the company to hide its own maladministration, Express News reported.
While terming the provincial government's allegations as 'false and baseless', the spokesperson said K-Electric is supplying non-stop power supply to all government hospitals in Karachi.
Read: Federal govt, K-Electric directly responsible for heat wave deaths: Memon
He went on to add that a number of government departments, including Sindh Police and the Sindh Secretariat of the Sindh government owed millions to K-Electric.
The electricity provider also announced that power shortfall has worsened in Karachi after a technical fault led to the shut down of Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp), the atomic power plant that provides electricity to the metropolis.
In a tweet, K-Electric claimed electricity demand in the city has reached 3000MW while generation is being "severely affected" due to the non-operational status of Kanupp and the shortage of gas pressure required by the plants.
The company also refuted reports of K-Electric CEO Tabish Gauhar resigning from his position.
Addressing the media at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where incidentally the power was out, Sharjeel Memon on Sunday said it was K-Electric’s responsibility to replace the existing dilapidated system with an efficient one at all costs.
“K-Electric did nothing to install new wires and grid stations on the mere pretext of line losses,” he said, adding that the “money that it received on account of bills was not used to rid the city of the outages.”
Read: Govt doing its best to address water issues in Karachi: Sharjeel Memon
On Monday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah also visited the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town to monitor hospital conditions and heatwave victims, Express News reported.
The chief minister while speaking to media men outside the hospital said, “There are only 11 heatstroke patients in the hospital,” while claiming that the hospital has so far treated more than 12,000 patients without casualties.
Read: Karachi heat wave: Pop art for a purpose
“We are here for the people of Karachi and are playing our part in resolving the on-going crisis,” Shah said, while lauding the efforts of hospital authorities in dealing with the emergency situation.
“Although there is no electricity in the hospital but still the hospital was functioning with the help of generators,” said the chief minister, pointing out that load-shedding was still being carried out by K Electric despite its promises to avoid outages at hospitals.
Read: Officials put heatstroke death toll at 1,213
Shah showed his complete confidence in the health minister and health secretary and said, “The provincial ministers are visiting hospitals and working for more than eight hours to address the issues of the people.”
“We are answerable to the people of Pakistan and are performing our duties well,” Shah said. The minister also advised the media to stop bashing the provincial government and appreciate its positive steps.
Shah said the current heat wave was a natural calamity and an act of God and most casualties were of elderly people who could not bear the excessive heat.
Read: Govt rushes to establish 60 heatstroke centres
The chief minister also informed the newsmen that the Sindh government had created centres across the city for the treatment of heat stroke patients.
As the Sindh government continues to shift blame for Karachi's heatwave deaths on K-Electric, the city's power utility company decided on Monday to respond to the provincial government's allegations.
A K-Electric spokesperson said the Sindh government was issuing statements against the company to hide its own maladministration, Express News reported.
While terming the provincial government's allegations as 'false and baseless', the spokesperson said K-Electric is supplying non-stop power supply to all government hospitals in Karachi.
Read: Federal govt, K-Electric directly responsible for heat wave deaths: Memon
He went on to add that a number of government departments, including Sindh Police and the Sindh Secretariat of the Sindh government owed millions to K-Electric.
The electricity provider also announced that power shortfall has worsened in Karachi after a technical fault led to the shut down of Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp), the atomic power plant that provides electricity to the metropolis.
In a tweet, K-Electric claimed electricity demand in the city has reached 3000MW while generation is being "severely affected" due to the non-operational status of Kanupp and the shortage of gas pressure required by the plants.
The company also refuted reports of K-Electric CEO Tabish Gauhar resigning from his position.
Addressing the media at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where incidentally the power was out, Sharjeel Memon on Sunday said it was K-Electric’s responsibility to replace the existing dilapidated system with an efficient one at all costs.
“K-Electric did nothing to install new wires and grid stations on the mere pretext of line losses,” he said, adding that the “money that it received on account of bills was not used to rid the city of the outages.”
Read: Govt doing its best to address water issues in Karachi: Sharjeel Memon
On Monday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah also visited the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town to monitor hospital conditions and heatwave victims, Express News reported.
The chief minister while speaking to media men outside the hospital said, “There are only 11 heatstroke patients in the hospital,” while claiming that the hospital has so far treated more than 12,000 patients without casualties.
Read: Karachi heat wave: Pop art for a purpose
“We are here for the people of Karachi and are playing our part in resolving the on-going crisis,” Shah said, while lauding the efforts of hospital authorities in dealing with the emergency situation.
“Although there is no electricity in the hospital but still the hospital was functioning with the help of generators,” said the chief minister, pointing out that load-shedding was still being carried out by K Electric despite its promises to avoid outages at hospitals.
Read: Officials put heatstroke death toll at 1,213
Shah showed his complete confidence in the health minister and health secretary and said, “The provincial ministers are visiting hospitals and working for more than eight hours to address the issues of the people.”
“We are answerable to the people of Pakistan and are performing our duties well,” Shah said. The minister also advised the media to stop bashing the provincial government and appreciate its positive steps.
Shah said the current heat wave was a natural calamity and an act of God and most casualties were of elderly people who could not bear the excessive heat.
Read: Govt rushes to establish 60 heatstroke centres
The chief minister also informed the newsmen that the Sindh government had created centres across the city for the treatment of heat stroke patients.