KARACHI - Various political parties, criticising the Karachi Electric over its poor performance during recent rain spell, have said that the private power company has become a ‘Killer Electric’ for the citizens of Karachi.

Taking to The Nation Thursday, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf leader Haleem Adil Sheikh called Karachi Electric a 'Killer Electric' for the Karachiites as during the rain spell the entire city whether posh or a slum neighborhood witnessed power outages during and after the rain. He said it is regrettable that power supply could not still be restored in some localities. He said that during first spell of rain, numbers of KE feeders were tripped and citizens’ lives became miserable due to the long power outages.

He said that during the two days of rain, the real face of the KE has emerged while on the other hand the Pakistan People Party-led Sindh government has already been insensitive towards the plights of citizens. Condemning the KE anti-citizens behaviour, the PTI leader said the private power company has been minting money from the citizens of Karachi since long; however it has not spent money on improving the electric infrastructure of the city.

He also accused the Sindh government and Karachi Municipal Corporation for neglecting the cleanliness work of nullahs, and said that Saadi Town in Malir district was flooded due to the chocking of garbage in nullahs.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Sindh lawmakers condemned the power outages during the last two days have said that the private electricity company is minting money from the citizens under the increased and unjustified billing. They said that the KE instead of facilitating the citizens had been lip-servicing on the issue of power outages.

The KE has completely failed to provide service to the citizens of Karachi while the people were aware of the KE’s poor performance. The KE has always made tall claims but has not made increase in production and generation of electricity so far and on the other hand they were charging maximum from the consumers, they added. Power outages during Iftar and Sehar created difficulties for the citizens while the entire city was plunged into darkness during the recent rain spell in Karachi, said the MQM MPAs adding that the private power company does not have enough staff and vehicles to clear the fault of lines.

They demanded the federal and provincial governments to take notice of electricity crisis.

Meanwhile, the K-Electric has clarified that there was no power suspension at any KWSB pumping station and uninterrupted power was being supplied to all the pumping stations at Dhabeji, Gharo and Pipri. However, there was a minor outage at only 2 out of the 20 pumps at Dhabeji on which the KE teams started work immediately and hence, restored the power supply within 45 minutes. The KE spokesperson in a statement said that apart from this ‘minor fault’ which only affected 2 pumps out of 20, power supply has been normal to all the pumps.

Moreover, the KE has categorically denied KWSB's allegations about major a power breakdown at Dhabeji, Gharo and Pipri pumping stations and said that the water board should not link water shortage with the KE.

The power utility has recently upgraded its circuit feeder, PMTs and cables that provide electricity to water board in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all the pumping stations.