Re: Karachi turning into a ghetto?
Sadly things are not progressing at all
There have been protests in several parts of Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, over continued power cuts.
The protests follow a fresh night of shortages in many parts of the city.
Religious and business leaders are threatening a city-wide campaign to persuade people to stop paying their electricity bills.
Power shortages have also affected many other parts of Pakistan, at a time when temperatures have been rising well above 40C (104F)
We have been spending a better part of the nights during the past week out on the pavements because the heat is unbearable and the fans don’t turn," Azhar Qureshi, a resident of the eastern Malir district of Karachi, told the BBC.
Fahim Lodhi, a student from the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area, said the shortages were playing havoc with his studies.
“The high school exams are on but there is no question of studying in this suffocating heat and darkness.”
More acute
The largest demonstration in Karachi was organised by the Islamic MMA alliance outside a mosque in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
Members of the All Pakistan Small Business Association (APSBA) also demonstrated in central Karachi.
Repeated power failures have also affected water supplies and sewerage pumps as well as business and industry.
Power cuts happen regularly in the Pakistani summer, but consumers say they are more acute this year.
Most areas in major cities have gone without electricity for anywhere between three to six hours every day, they say.
The federal Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) announced plans for scheduled power cuts on 31 March but has not issued timings for different areas.
Consumers say power outages often catch them by surprise and recur several time a day.
Localised protests have been reported from dozens of cities across the country since early April, often leading to clashes with the police and electricity company staff.
The southern ciity of Karachi, with its 15m population, is the worst hit.
‘Inefficient’
]Mohammad Adil Siddiqui, the provincial minister for industries, has said that traders and manufacturers in Karachi are incurring daily losses of one billion rupees ($16m).
He says Karachi needs 650 megawatts of power for daily consumption, but that Wapda is only supplying 300mw to the city.
However, Wapda officials say they are supplying 625mw of power to the recently privatised Karachi Electric Supply Corporation.
Wapda says that the country generates a total of 11,200mw power but that total consumption needed during the summer rises to 12,500mw, causing power failures. Critics say Wapda has failed to tap all available resources or augment its distribution network, which they say is very inefficient. Power theft by major consumers, often with the connivance of Wapda staff, is another problem which has prolonged Wapda’s financial woes, they say.
is concerned, remember that almost each and every person in Karachi is confused… and no offence, it can include your and my relatives as well.
