Citizens have asked the Federal government to take stern action against K-Electric, saying that hundreds of innocent citizens lost their precious lives due to suffocation inside their homes and apartments caused by prolonged load shedding during the recent heatwave. The demands came following the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority's (Nepra) four-member fact finding team probing the heatwave deaths in Karachi has held K-Electric responsible for the prolonged load shedding and company's poor transmission system.
Chairman Consumer Right Protection Council (CRPC) Shakeel Baig asked the government to lodge FIR against the 'irresponsible' KE officials including its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) under terrorism act. He said that majority of deaths were caused by prolong load shedding in the city. He said since the company has introduced aluminium wires against copper, the transmissions system of KE suffered. Wire falling and PMT tripping has become routine issue particularly in the hottest season of summer, he added.
The fact finding committee of Nepra has also held KE responsible, he said. The Federal Government should now step up to take actions against the power utility, he demanded. He also accused the government of not taking appropriate action against the power utility. "The government agencies should have taken control of the entire system of KE when it miserably failed to provide electricity when it was deadly needed for the life."
Mazhar Chaudhary of KESC Consumers Forum said that since the power utility has been unable to generate electricity from its own plants to the full capacity, the power utility had arbitrarily started increasing load shedding at various parts of metropolis. "K-Electric was intentionally carrying out load shedding in the city," he claimed.
Mazhar said that in a public hearing Khwaja Naeem of Nepra had asked the power utility to carry out 'evenly' load shedding in all areas without any discrimination of rich and poor He also objected over 'K-Electric's load shedding strategy wherein it carry out load shedding by categorising city areas on the basis of recoveries, saying that KE should adopt alternate ways to recover the dues from consumers rather disconnecting electricity or carrying load shedding. "I have personally requested Director of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Shahid Hayat to probe into the affairs of KE a month ago. He had promised to lodge a case against the power utility, but the case has not yet been registered," he said.
Kaukab Iqbal, Chairman Consumer Association of Pakistan (CAP) has said. "I am going to register an FIR against the KE's CEO and other officials on Tuesday. He said more than 50 percent deaths occurred due to sheer negligence of KE in providing electricity to the city. He also accused KE for blackmailing the honest consumers through charging inflated bills while showing different fabricated arrears. "Three of my relatives including a youth lost their lives in the recent heatstroke due to extreme suffocation in the absence of light at their residences. "If the areas were not subjected to hours long load shedding, we might have not lost our dear ones," he added.
The KE's indifferent attitude towards consumers has also drive the political parties to file law suit against the power utility. Jamaat Islami (JI) Karachi had already announced to drag the KE in the courts over deaths of hundreds of citizens. Engineer Naeem-ur-Rehman, JI Karachi chief held KE responsible for the human tragedy. Aziz-ur-Rehman, President KESC Labour Union also requested the government to register FIR against the KE. The regulator's fact finding team held the power utility responsible for the loss of hundreds of precious lives hence it should be dealt with in accordance with the law. He also requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take over the power utility.
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