Not to speak of providing relief to the masses during the holy month of Ramazan, the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) management is not even ready to spare the load shedding-hit consumers at the times of sehr and iftar or the Friday prayer.
Apart from the normal routine of power outages, many areas in Malir including Shamsi Society, Punjab Town, Golden Town, Rafah-e-Aam Society and Al-Falah Society are also experiencing long hours of unscheduled load shedding and complain that the KESC management has not only belied its word of reducing power cuts and not carrying out shutdowns during sehr and iftar, but is also considering Ramazan as an opportunity to make the people realise the significance of the power utility and its role in their life.
“It is amazing as well as thought-provoking that under the normal routine for past several months in our areas, there were no power breakdowns at the times of sunset, midnight or sunrise. However, right from the beginning of Ramazan, load shedding is being religiously observed during these hours,” said Shafiqur Rehman, a resident of Rafah-e-Aam Society.
“It is beyond our understanding as to what the motive behind this practice really is.
“It is a testing time for the people to fast in this hot weather and bear 12 hours of load shedding a day. The women are suffering more as they have to make arrangements for sehr-o-iftar without electricity and it has led them to be more fatigued and short-tempered, said Rehman. Sharing his views, a resident of Shamsi Housing Society, Imran Siddiqui, said: “It is really mind-boggling for us to notice unscheduled power cut exactly at the time of Friday prayers.”
“For the past two to three years, I have been observing that an exclusive period [of load shedding] – from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm – is often inserted on Fridays into the overall plan.
“Two years ago, there were only 3 hours of load shedding every day and even then, we often had unusual breakdowns of exactly 60 or 90 minutes during Friday prayers. “The surprising fact is that there weren’t any scheduled timings during noon and afternoon on other week days,” said Siddiqui.
This fact was also noted by many other residents of the area, who wished the KESC management could give them a satisfying answer.
Citizens were of the view that things are getting worse day by day regard the power crisis in the country and there is no ray of hope at end of the tunnel as no concrete steps have been taken by the present government.
