- KE-SSGC dispute aggravates torment of Karachi citizens
…A lot of smaller fish are swallowed up. The long suffering people of Karachi, gradually recovering from the protracted savage sway of the London MQM and horror of countless terrorist incidents, were again plunged in despondency and misery due to entirely dissimilar persecutors on this occasion, namely, two utilities bickering among themselves. Any lasting tranquility in the teeming city of 21 million souls seems a chimera, a vain dream. Most people are acutely aware of the pathetic state of Karachi’s civic amenities, the mounds of rotting, uncollected garbage scattered everywhere and lack of potable water, with cartels supplying the liquid of life at exorbitant rates to captive consumers. Governments may come and go, but these two afflictions remain constant factors, with provincial and federal authorities displaying a cold indifference.
A similar apathy to citizen’s distress was observed recently when Karachi, sweltering under an untimely heat wave with temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius, faced power shortages of over twelve hours daily, due to a ‘circular debt’ dispute between the sole power supplier K-Electric and Sui Southern Gas Company, with both utilities trading accusations, the former of inadequate gas supply, the latter regarding a trifling matter of Rs80 billion owed it by K-Electric. While people wallowed in unendurable suffering (when power goes, water also vanishes), and the Sindh chief minister was crying for urgent assistance, the federal government remained a deaf and mute spectator, and it was not until Monday that the PM while visiting Karachi ordered an end to the KE-SSGC monetary feuding within 15 days and immediate resumption of electricity and water supplies, resulting in a return to normalcy in most, but not all, areas of the city. Apart from citizen’s needless physical and mental torture, Karachi-based industry too suffered a loss of Rs37 billion, and the irony is that the country’s electricity production reportedly exceeds demand, but areas which witness sixty percent power theft attract penalty of extensive load shedding. Still, it remains a mystery why the matter was callously allowed to linger on for a whole month, to citizen’s pain and inconvenience.
