KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Friday condemned the K-Electric for carrying out up to “17 hours of loadshedding” in different parts of the metropolis and demanded relief from the ongoing power crisis.

Speaking at a press conference here, JI-Karachi chief Munim Zafar said that A and O level students were going through their examinations while exams of matriculation would commence from May 7, but the KE had resorted to unbearable loadshedding.

“If the situation doesn’t improve, our party will hold a press conference outside the KE headquarters to announce its future course of action on May 7,” he said.

He also presented a comparison between the performance of the KE before and after its privatisation and demanded a forensic audit of its accounts.

He recalled that the KESC had been privatised in order to minimise loadshedding, losses and subsidies and enhance power production and maintain an uninterrupted power supply to the city.

“For the past 18 years after the privatisation, the KE has decreased its production from 9,304 million units to 7,334 million units — showing a whopping decline of 19 per cent instead of posting any increase,” he said.

“Despite over 90 per cent increase in consumers from 1.8 million in 2005 to 3.4m in 2024, no serious effort has been made to address this issue and the loadshedding period has been increased in various areas of the city,” he added.

Meanwhile, a KE spokesperson said in a statement that 71 per cent KE service territory remained exempted from loadshedding. He said that the maximum duration of loadshedding was “capped at 10 hours” in remaining 29pc areas.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2024