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Citizens and traders protest power outages

Staff Report

KARACHI: Protests against power outages continued on Thursday as citizens and traders took to the streets in various parts of the city.

After an eight-hour long power outage, Tariq Road shopkeepers closed their shops at 3 p.m. and marched towards the Dubai Shopping Center where they staged a sit-in and blocked access to Tariq Road for over three hours. The protesters shouted slogans against the KESC and demanded an immediate solution to the electricity problem. In the meantime, the Firozabad police arrived at the scene and arranged for negotiations between the protestors and KESC officials, after which the protestors agreed to disperse as the KESC resumed its power supply to the area.

Elsewhere in Lyari Town, residents organized similar demonstrations against the KESC. The protestors blocked traffic on the town’s major roads and according to reports, there were also some incidents of aerial firing which ended up creating pandemonium throughout the area. To control the seemingly escalating situation, the police resorted to shelling, following which, the protestors dispersed. In the meantime, power supply was also restored to most of the areas in Lyari Town.

Elsewhere, similar protests were seen in Federal B. Area’s Block 4, 6 and 8, where residents organized protests after a 12-hour long power outage. They staged a sit-in at the local KESC complaint centre, while officials of the complaint center were seen fleeing the scene. Nonetheless, the demonstrations remained relatively peaceful as no vehicles or other properties were reported as damaged.

Meanwhile, similar protests were also organized in Liaqatabad, Nazimabad, Park Colony, Golimar, Sohrab Goth, Shah Faisal Colony, Saudabad, Orangi Town, Garden, Patel Para, Gul Bahar and Korangi. However, in certain areas, KESC officials were allegedly manhandled following which, the police was forced to bring the situation under control.

According to a KESC spokesman, units two, four and five of the Korangi and the Bin-Qasim thermal power stations are not functioning. As a result, load shedding has to be carried out to deal with the power supply shortage. “Units two and four will be repaired in the next couple of days, however unit five will not become operational until the third week of June,” said the spokesman.

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