Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presided over an important meeting with K-Electric authorities at the CM House on Wednesday and urged them not to conduct load shedding during the timings of Sehri and Iftari. “I want you to exempt all the pumping stations of water board from load shedding and set up a hotline with the commissioner for close coordination,” he directed.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance & Energy Syed Murad Ali Shah, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, K-Electric CEO Tayyab Tareen, Provincial Secretary Energy Agha Wasif and senior officers of the K-Electric.
The KE CEO briefed the chief minister about their Ramzan plan and assured him that no load shedding would be carried out during Seher and Iftar in residential and commercial areas of the city. He said that unannounced load shedding was not being carried out anywhere in the city. Additionally, strategic locations remain exempted throughout the day, including key hospitals and KWSB installations, he further added.
“The KE teams are on ground and active 24/7 and have the capability to resolve any fault or issue to provide maximum relief to the people of Karachi. The overall duration of load shedding has been decreased,” the CEO said.
Tayyab also highlighted that there were isolated cases of tripping or faults due to overloading and hooks for which the utility was conducting rigorous anti-power theft drives in the city. The KE faces serious resistance and sometimes violence when kundas or hooks are removed, he said.
The chief minister said that he had held a meeting with KWSB and KMC administration. “They complained against power outages at the pumping station and sometimes fluctuation or weak voltages. In both the cases, water supply to the city is affected badly. This must be improved,” he urged.
The chief minister asked the KE authorities to share load shedding schedule with the commissioner who, through his deputy commissioner, would perform monitoring work, so that unannounced load shedding or power outages could be controlled. He directed the commissioner to set up a hotline with the KE authorities, so that the issues like extra load shedding, prolong outages and technical faults could be solved through mutual coordination.
The KE authorities told the chief minister that there was a demand of 3,200 MW electricity against which total generation comes to 2,700 MW. “We are putting all out efforts to overcome the shortfall and the matter would be resolved within next few years,” Tayyab pledged.
The finance and energy minister said that he would also remain in touch with the KE to resolve the issues of load shedding.
