No one ready to own heat-stricken Karachi

• While Sindh government holds federal govt and K-Electric directly responsible for heatwave deaths, NEPRA team clears K-Electric of any liability in the case
• PM Sharif to visit Karachi today, meet PPP leaders including Bilawal, discuss overall political and security situation with focus on Karachi
• High temperatures in metropolis claim another 20 lives with protests being organised in different parts of the province

While Karachi continues to suffer at the hands of intense heatwave and water and power crisis, no one from the federal or provincial governments is ready to take responsibility for the rising number of casualties in the provincial metropolis.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) investigation team probing the heatwave deaths in Karachi has cleared K-Electric of any liability, sources said on Sunday.

NEPRA in its report has said that the deaths have been caused by the intense weather and not load shedding. The regulatory authority went on to say that the victims were mostly those people who were exposed to the open sky and severe heat. The report further says that the power outages in the city have increased due to a rise in electricity demand.

The investigation team will present its initial report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who is scheduled to arrive in Karachi on Monday (today) to review the issues of heat-related deaths in Karachi and the load-shedding problem.

BILAWAL TO MEET PM:

Moreover, it has also been reported that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will also meet Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to discuss current political and security situation of the country.

According to reports, the PM is scheduled to hold meetings with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah who will brief him about causes of deaths and government’s relief efforts in Karachi where more than 1,250 people have lost their lives due to heat stroke.

MEMON HOLDS K ELECTRIC RESPONSIBLE:

In the meanwhile, the Sindh government has refused to take responsibility for over 1,000 deaths caused by a heatwave in Karachi, pointing fingers instead at the federal government and K-Electric.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon called out the federal government and K-Electric over what he termed their failure to provide uninterrupted power supply to residents of Sindh.

While addressing the media at the AbbasiShaheedHospital, where incidentally the power was out, Memon said it was K-Electric’s responsibility to replace the existing dilapidated system with an efficient one at all costs.

“K-Electric did nothing to install new wires and grid stations on the mere pretext of line losses,” he said, adding that the “money that it received on account of bills was not used to rid the city of the outages”.

The minister further claimed that the power company was in the hands of ineligible officers who did not have good intentions.

“K-Electric is indeed responsible for outages even at the hospitals as they claim to have exempted them from load shedding.”

Memon also accused the federal government saying it did nothing about the “discrimination” Sindh faced in terms of receiving efficient power supply.

“There has been no respite in load-shedding particularly in villages where the dwellers face even 20 hours of load shedding,” he said. He claimed that the provincial government is taking all measures to help people out of the misery in the scorching heat. “From this hospital, we identified at least 40 ghost employees and terminated their services.”

The minister said most of the people who died from Karachi heat were elderly, including women, and the electric company is to be held responsible for continuous load shedding.

BILAWAL MEETS HEAT VICTIMS:

Moreover, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also met the heatwave victims at CivilHospital on Sunday. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Provincial Health Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar and PPP leader Sherry Rehman were also accompanying the PPP chairman.

Talking to the media on Sunday, Health Minister Jam Mehtab while putting the responsibility on K-Electric for the deaths said that most of the deaths occurred due to occurred due to prolong load shedding and severe heatwave. He said that 35 per cent women died to the prolonged load shedding.

Jam Mehtab said that 150 people have been taken to different hospital on Sunday while 11 people died yesterday due to heatwave. He praised the hospital workers for their services.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asked the chief minister to ensure that all the ministers visit hospitals to monitor the relief and treatment of the affected people.

HEAT CONTINUES TO TAKE LIVES:

Although the searing heat of last week has passed, high temperatures claimed another 20 lives in the city on Sunday with protests emerging from different parts of the province.

According to Sindh Health Department statistics, since June 20, a total of 1,206 have died in Karachi alone due to the heatwave.

In the meanwhile, angry demonstrators protesting against the drawn out power outages blocked a railway track in Nawabshah area of Peela Camp in Sunday’s wee hours.

The protesters staged a protest demo by setting tires on fire at railway lines and held back passenger train—Farid Express—that was plying from Karachi to Punjab.

According to demonstrators, acute water shortage was caused mainly due to 24-hour unannounced load shedding. The infuriated protesters said they are suffering immense troubles because of the multiple crises as there is no electricity and water in the area.

However, the demonstrators broke up peacefully on the heels of successful negotiations with the administration.