Pakistan: Load-shedding makes lives of people a living hell in Sindh

With the rise in mercury levels, load-sheddings in different cities of Sindh province of Pakistan have made the lives of people a living hell and consistent load-shedding has caused chaos among the people of the region.

Mauhaumad Ovais, a resident of Karachi spoke about no electricity for a longer duration in those parts of the country where the people could not afford to pay inflated bills, power cut in Karachi continues for about eight hours.

Mauhaumad Ovais said, “The situation in terms of load shedding in Karachi has yet not improved, a general power cut in the city is about eight hours long. And even then we have to pay such high electricity bills. The middle-income person could either pay his bills, educate his children, or pay for their medical bills.”

People are suffering and daily life is being affected. Many heavy electricity-consuming appliances such as refrigerators, freezers and even UPSs are short-circuiting and being destroyed due to the intermittent outages.

“The government is cutting corners on basic amenities like waste collection and treatment which is making the people fall ill. Even after all this when we default on our bills once while combating inflation and high bills. We are warned and threatened that our electricity supply will be cut,” he added.

Ahmed, another resident of Karachi, raised similar issues of electricity and stated that a monopoly is being maintained. He called for the government’s intervention and breaking the monopoly by introducing other private companies to create a little competition in the market.

Through a network spanning 6,500 square kilometres, KE supplies power to all residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural areas that fall under the city’s ambit and beyond, serving over 3.4 million customers across Karachi.

Ahmed said, “There is just one company that is supplying electricity, and they are not allowing any other company to enter the market so that their monopoly continues. The people are suffering from extreme temperatures here, and the government had assured us that there would be no load shedding until this heat wave passes, but still, there is load shedding of several hours.”

“The government needs to intervene and break the monopoly by introducing other private companies, as a little competition in the market will be better for the general public. We have raised the complaints of wrongful billing to the authorities but either they don’t pay attention or say that we have to pay the amount. In both ways, we suffer a lot, we have to compensate for the electricity with other important expenses like medical, or educational,” he added.

Niaz, another resident, echoed similar remarks and added that the Sindh administration does not want to address the problem. He said that people have been facing several basic problems like roads, electricity, cleanliness, and drinking water.

Niaz said, “Be it the problems of Karachi or the problems of Sindh both of them are the same. There are several basic problems, like roads, electricity, cleanliness, and drinking water. If the government had longed to solve the problems of the people, then these problems would have been solved a long time ago.”

“However, I believe that the Sindh administration does not want these issues of the people to be resolved. We have also been demanding a relief package but there is no action taken towards it,” he added.

Commercial, as well as household work, is being affected, with people losing sleep as well due to long hours of load shedding in the night with the accompanying heat.