After facing strong criticism and threats of legal actions from Karachiites over power failures and electrocution incidents during recent spells of downpours which left over 20 persons dead including children, K-Electric has decided to take strict actions against 'illegal use of its infrastructure by internet, TV cables, streetlight switches and kundas' from today terming them as safety hazards.
Also, the power company said it will be undertaking an exercise to identify opportunities for infrastructure improvement so as to strengthen both reliability and safety of power supply.
The power utility in a detailed statement said it has issued a public notice in this regard. Non-KE wires on power distribution infrastructure are a major safety hazard as they damage KE's infrastructure and bypass safety protection mechanisms.
KE said as per initial findings of ongoing investigations, the power utility also requests various civic authorities to support its efforts in combating this public safety menace.
Majority of the recent incidents either occurred inside homes or due to non-KE infrastructure such as kundas and hanging lights etc., which are beyond control of KE.
It is relevant to mention here that an FIR was lodged in Darakhshan Police Station against K-Electric by a citizen named Tariq Mehmood Butt s/o Zulfiqar Ali Butt over electrocution of his son, Hamza Butt along with two friends Talha Tanveer,21, and Faizan Saleem,22, during the rain. Civil society also expressed displeasure over the 'unsafe' power distribution infrastructure of KE.
The power utility reiterates to undertake required remedial measures in light of the investigation results.
Referring to the various studies, power utility said a large portion of Karachi is unplanned and includes encroachments in different areas which are often also infested with hooks. KE identifies encroachments around power infrastructure across its network and issues notices to concerned authorities for immediate action as these create a dangerous and unsafe situation by compromising the safety protocols and procedures of these structures.
Reemergence of such wires and hooks remain a critical social challenge and can only be resolved through support of all stakeholders.
All these external factors, which also come under the purview of different civic service entities in Karachi, have a significant effect on the power utility's ability to ensure provision of safe and reliable electricity to its customers.
It is important to note that KE has one of the lowest incident ratios amongst DISCOs operating in Pakistan and as per NEPRAs last State of Industry Report issued for 2018, KE has the third lowest number of incidents.
KE for long has been engaging with all concerned stakeholders so that they recognize their due role to provide an enabling environment for the power utility to operate by enforcing basic urban development protocols in a planned manner across the city and again pleads to them to step up to eliminate the issue of encroachments, hooks, unwarranted use of KE's infrastructure and water-logging around power infrastructure during and after rain.
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