Pakistan: Karachi's power crisis deepens as long outages push poor families to brink

Karachi [Pakistan], September 1 (ANI): Rights activists and civil society representatives have raised alarm over prolonged electricity outages in Karachi, saying excessive loadshedding is placing an unfair burden on low-income households and disrupting education, work and basic hygiene, as reported by Dawn.

According to Dawn, speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, organised by the Civil Society Collective for Clean Energy for Karachi, the speakers said extended power cuts had made routine activities such as cooking, bathing, washing clothes and maintaining household cleanliness increasingly difficult. The speakers said widespread protests and traffic disruptions were witnessed across Karachi during the week starting August 24, with residents of Lyari, the old city areas protesting against what they described as unusually long power outages.

Residents in North Karachi, Nazimabad and parts of Gulistan-i-Jauhar reported facing between 16 and 24 hours of loadshedding. The speakers also pointed to K-Electric's published schedule, claiming that more than 615 feeders were listed for outages of up to 12 hours a day, potentially affecting about a third of the city's feeders.

Qazi Khizer of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said prolonged outages were worsening the condition of working-class communities. He also linked electricity shortages to rising mental stress, arguing that reliable power should be treated as an essential service rather than a privilege.

Karachi Union of Journalists President Tahir Hassan Khan questioned the outcomes of K-Electric's privatisation, saying claims of technological and operational improvements had not translated into dependable electricity supplies. Social activist Najma Maheshwari highlighted the disproportionate impact on women in Lyari, where electricity shortages were also affecting water availability, as reported by Dawn. (ANI)

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