The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) has said that power supply to many parts of the port city has been restored after second breakdown on Monday morning. “Six grid stations out of 64 were tripped after a major fault in 220KV Bin Qasim transmission line,” Ussama Qureshi, the KESC spokesman said, adding the power supply to maximum areas had been restored after removing the fault. The KESC spokesman further said that humidity factor was the main cause of tripping. According to reports, the areas which were affected by the power break down includes Defence, Kharadar, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Korangi, II Chundrigar Road, Kashmir Colony, Mehmodabad, Akhter Colony, Clifton, Kharadar, Lyari.
It is pertinent to add that massive power outages had plunged almost the whole Karachi into darkness on Saturday night as at least 24 out of 64 transmission lines of the Karachi Electric Supply Company were tripped. Five transmission lines of KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company) had already tripped on Saturday night, while the 500KV transmission line of Jamshoro also tripped in early hours of Sunday affecting two 220KV and three 132KV lines depriving the citizens of 650 MW electricity generated by NTDC, silencing 20 out of city’s 64 grid stations.
The hapless citizens spent a sleepless night, while they also faced great difficulty in preparing and having their sehri. Many areas like I I Chundrigar Road, Burns Road, PIDC, Akhtar Colony and others were among the victims of the massive outages. Intermittent tripping of transmission lines was attributed to constant wetting by dew, while the KESC, which imposed an emergency in its main control room(s), besides summoning all its personnel to restore electricity, apologized for the inconvenience. Meanwhile, Governor Dr Ishrat-al-Ibad gave strict directives to the KESC officials to restore the electricity supply to the city at the earliest. The KESC spokesperson had announced on Sunday that power supply to 22 grid stations out of 61 had been restored. A number of localities in Karachi had plunged into darkness the previous night following a breakdown of power supply system of KESC. The situation developed when 22 grid stations tripped because of humidity in the main transmission lines. According to Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) spokesman KESC’s two Extra High Tension (EHT) circuits of 220 KV and three lines of 132 KV, carrying electricity from Bin Qasim power plant were tripped at around 9:20 pm. As a result, he said, power supply to 23 of 64 grid stations and Dhabeji pumping station had been suspended, leaving almost all the city into darkness.
