KARACHI: A Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) leader filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday against K-Electric, seeking an end to the loadshedding during the ongoing heatwave in the metropolis.

JI Karachi president Munim Zafar, deputy parliamentary leader in the City Council Advocate Saifuddin and others filed the petition before the SHC, naming the power ministry, the National Electric Power Regularity Authority (Nepra) and the K-Electric as respondents.

The petitioners contended that the KE, responsible for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Karachi, had been observing loadshedding for an average duration of 10 to 16 hours daily in various localities, attributing the measure to power theft-related losses.

“The current loadshedding situation in Karachi is severe with the city facing up to 16 hours of power outages per day on an average. K-Electric has resorted to loadshedding for an average duration of 10 hours a day in different localities of Karachi to recover losses due to power theft. That in this heatwave scenario, particularly in Karachi, hundreds of people are being hospitalised. During the last two days, 150 heatstroke patients have been brought to the Civil Hospital Karachi, including 40 citizens affected by intense heat, and they have remained admitted to the medical facility since Tuesday morning,” the petition added while citing newspaper clippings.

The petitioners stated that out of the 2,109 feeders in Karachi, 1,500 faced no loadshedding while the others were subjected to outages according to their loss rates. That meant 71 per cent of the feeders had no loadshedding, they said.

Cites power ministry, Nepra, KE as respondents

The petitioners claimed that high-loss areas in Karachi faced up to 7.5 hours of loadshedding when energy demand peaked whereas low-loss areas faced no outages.

It added that the KE had increased the duration of loadshedding in phases with the city now facing 2-4 hours of outages at night while 40pc of the city was experiencing the worst power outages.

Referring to the Nepra rules 2005, the petition stated that the KE could not impose loadshedding on its own, but must follow the rules and regulations set by the regularity authority. However, the KE had been persistently imposing loadshedding on the people of Karachi while collecting the highest taxes and energy charges in South Asia, it added.

The petition also referenced a resolution passed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Council condemning KE’s failure to provide uninterrupted electricity supply, especially during heatwaves. The resolution called on the KE to upgrade its infrastructure and generation capacity immediately to meet Karachi’s demand and prevent further loss of human life due to power outages.

The petitioners prayed before the court to immediately halt the KE’s practice of loadshedding and to adhere to the Nepra Performance Standards Rules and Nepra Fine Regulations.

The petitioners also sought a directive for the KE to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to eliminate loadshedding, including measures to curb power theft and improve infrastructure as soon as possible.

Additionally, the petitioners urged for immediate and effective measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the citizens of Karachi, particularly during the heatwave conditions, and for Nepra to enforce its regulations strictly and take appropriate action against the KE for its violations.

Protests outside the KE offices

After filing the petition, Karachi JI chief Mr Zafar told reporters that the Jamaat would use all available options for the rights of Karachiites. Unfortunately, people in some areas had been facing loadshedding for up to 18 hours daily, he added.

The JI would not leave Karachiites at the mercy of the KE or the corrupt rulers, he said while announcing over 100 protests in Karachi outside the KE offices and other important points on Friday (today).

Saying that the KE frequently resorted to power outages on the pretext of technical faults, he made it clear that none other than the KE itself was responsible for the technical faults; it would have to resolve the issue.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2024