The committee, formed to evaluate the performance of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has remained silent spectator as no enquiry has so far been initiated even after lapse of almost a month. The committee was formed by President Asif Ali Zardari to check the performance of the power utility.
According to a member of the committee, the members from the federal government were apparently in no mood to hold the second meeting of the committee, which was supposed to be held on June 8. Even after a massive power breakdown in the whole city for at least 36 hours on June 17-18, the committee did not bother to ask the company's management to justify its failure, he said.
While Shaukat Tarin, the Adviser to Prime Minster on Finance, who is heading the committee, has not called the members for the next meeting so far, he added. The first meeting of the committee was held on 1st June in Islamabad. To a question, he said there was no chance of nationalisation of the company as some influential personalities were against the move.
It is worth mentioning that the committee had asked the KESC management to prove if it had invested the pledged $361 million in power generation and infrastructure development. However, the committee consisting of high officials such as Shaukat Tarin, Raja Pervez Ashraf, the Federal Minister for Water and Power, and Farooq Sattar, the Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, in its first meeting, had given another chance to the power company to present its factual report in the next meeting.
The aggravating power supply situation in the metropolis during the last few weeks has not only disturbed normal life but it has also caused huge losses to the business and industrial sector. Enraged consumers of the KESC have even attacked the Company's offices in some areas of the city as they had been facing prolonged power outages since drizzling on Thursday night.
The angry protesters in the areas of Landhi, Safoora Goth and New Karachi, who were facing load shedding for extended periods, attacked the KESC offices and burnt company's vehicles as they found it the only way to vent their anger. There were also reports of tripping of at least 30 feeders daily as the company has failed to keep the maintenance of its installations, which causes frequent power outages in the city.
Meanwhile the KESC on Saturday appealed to public to control their anger in case of power interruptions and not to resort to attacks on the utility's service centres which would only delay the restoration process. Addressing a news briefing here on Saturday afternoon, Jan Abbas Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer Distribution, expressed regret over a mob attack at the KESC's Al-Razi Complaint Centre in Landhi 3-1/2 Area on Friday evening.
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