President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, has expressed concerns over the poor performance of K-Electric. It leads to triggering massive load shedding in every nook and corner of Karachi, including all seven industrial zones. He urged the utility service provider to immediately stop the ongoing load-shedding spell and focus on improving the infrastructure, particularly power generation capacity and a distribution network, which is in a terrible state.
In a statement, Agha Shahab pointed out that due to K-Electric’s poor performance, almost all the localities of Karachi and the seven industrial zones have to suffer unannounced load shedding and power failures every day for many hours that result in substantial losses. “The industries have suffered badly due to the outbreak of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown for more than two months. Now, K-Electric has also resorted to massive load shedding, which poses a threat to the already staked survival of industries”, he said and asked ‘What is the motive behind carrying out immense load shedding in an extraordinary situation?’
“The prolonged load shedding by K-Electric would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of industries and the economy”, he opined and added that people from different walks of life, who have been inhabiting in various localities, sought KCCI’s assistance to exert pressure on K-Electric’s management so that uninterrupted power supply in every area could be ensured.
He stressed that K-Electric must adopt measures on war footing to minimize the hardships being suffered by the citizens and the business community of the largest city of Pakistan, which contributes a lion’s share of more than 70 percent revenue to the national exchequer. Karachiites are already under tremendous mental pressure due to coronavirus pandemic, and their sufferings multiply further when they have to go through prolonged load shedding every day and night.
President KCCI said that K-Electric has been earning massive profits of billions of rupees every year. Still, unfortunately, it has not been adequately investing on improving the dilapidated distribution network, which was in a terrible shape as every year whenever the electricity demand shoots up in the city during the summer season, K-Electric fails to deal with the situation and the public pays the price for this failure in shape of load shedding.
Agha Shahab further advised that as the Monsoon season is just ahead and the Metrological Department has forecasted heavy rainfalls, K-Electric must act sensibly and responsibly, avoid repeating mistakes and adopt stringent measures to ensure uninterrupted and safe power supply during the rainy season. “Dozens of people were electrocuted during last year’s Monsoon season and the same situation may happen this year as well because no safety measures have been adopted so far hence K-Electric’s management must take up this matter on priority and devise effective strategies to save precious lives in case the city undergoes torrential rains”, he added.
Agha Shahab requested Prime Minister Imran Khan, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and other concerned ministers at the Federal and Provincial levels to review the situation and issue strict directives to K-Electric to improve its infrastructure and ensure uninterrupted power supply to public and also the business and industrial community who are already suffering terribly because of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.