Power crisis creating law and order situation in Karachi: CM

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said prolonged power loadshedding being resorted to by K-Electric has started creating a law and order situation in Karachi.

A statement issued by the CM House on Tuesday said the chief minister had asked Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh to contact K-Electric for overcoming the worsening power crisis in the city.

Shah said the KE should improve its systems as there was as a limit to what people could peacefully tolerate in respect of a worsening power supply. He said the power crisis should be overcome in the city at the earliest.

He said unannounced loadshedding had caused a law and order situation in the city. He said the K-Electric should take measures on an emergency basis to overcome the worsening power situation in the city.

The CM appealed to the prime minister and the federal energy minister to pay the arrears of the KE at the earliest, saying that the KE did not have money to purchase furnace oil for power generation.

In a separate statement, Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that despite earning sizeable profits, the privatised K-Electric had completely failed to upgrade its network.

He said the performance and service delivery by the three power distribution companies in Sindh, the K-Electric, Speco and Hesco had been far from satisfactory. He said these power utilities had completely failed to provide due relief to the masses.

He said disconnecting electricity supply to an entire locality because of default on paying the electricity bills by a few power consumers was an unlawful and immoral act on the part of power companies.

Memon emphasised that an entire neighbourhood or a village shouldn’t be deprived of electricity in case any particular power consumer had failed to pay his electricity bill. He said the power supply issue had become worse in Karachi, as people were not able to rest properly at night and their efficiency at workplace became compromised the next day. The information minister said the power distribution companies were under an obligation to upgrade their networks and the failure to do so showed their sheer inefficiency.