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- May 4, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
KARACHI: In response to K-Electric’s up to “17 hours of load shedding” in various sections of the city, the Jamaat-i-Islami on Friday denounced the company and called for an end to the current power struggle. The chief of JI-Karachi, Munim Zafar, stated during a news conference that although matriculation exams were scheduled to start on May 7, A and O-level students were now completing their tests. He claimed that the KE was to blame for the intolerable load-shedding. “Our party is planning to hold a press conference outside the KE headquarters on May 7th to announce its future course of action if the situation doesn’t improve,” he added.
A forensic audit of the KE’s financial records was also required by him, and he also provided a comparison of the organization’s performance before and during its privatization. He reminded us that the KESC had been privatized to reduce losses, load shedding, and subsidies while increasing power output and ensuring the city would always have access to electricity. “The KE has reduced its production from 9,304 million units to 7,334 million units over the past 18 years following the privatization—showing a staggering decline of 19% instead of posting any increase,” he stated.
He said, “No real attempt has been made to address this issue and the load-shedding period has been raised in various sections of the city, despite the over 90% rise in consumers from 1.8 million in 2005 to 3.4 million in 2024. 71% of the KE service area is still free from load shedding, a KE representative stated in a statement. According to him, load shedding in the remaining 29% of locations was “capped at 10 hours” in length.