The Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) District South leaders and workers, and residents of Lyari staged a protest rally from Lyari Gate in Moosa Lane to the Karachi Press Club on Sunday against up to 18 hours of unannounced electricity and gas outages in the area.
Speaking at the protest demonstration, PPP MNA Sardar Nabil Gabol demanded that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah take firm action to end unannounced power cuts, urging him to use his authority to ensure that residents received uninterrupted electricity.
He said the PPP had held talks with the K-Electric (KE) pointing out that residents of Lyari had continued to pay their electricity bills as they had in the past, but they were still being deprived of power.
Gabol said beautification projects would have little meaning unless Karachi’s electricity and gas problems were resolved. He proposed that solar systems be provided to Lyari residents from the existing budget and a solar park be established in the area to provide relief to low-income households.
Appealing to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, he urged him to ensure that funds for a solar park in Lyari were allocated in the budget. “Lyari is a stronghold of the PPP, and its people cannot be left in darkness,” he said. PPP District South President Javed Nagori, MPA Yousuf Baloch, Usman Hungoro, Taimoor Sial, MPA Shazia Karim, Habib Hassan and Fareed Memon also said prolonged electricity outages had made life miserable for residents.
They said water pumps could not operate without electricity, while purchasing water tankers had become unaffordable for poor households. Children were being deprived of opportunities to study in the evenings because of darkness, while daily-wage workers associated with small factories, welding units, tailoring businesses and motor workshops were losing their livelihoods owing to frequent power cuts, they lamented.
They also pointed out that inadequate gas supplies had compounded residents’ difficulties with gas unavailable during all three daily mealtimes. Mothers were forced to wait for hours to prepare meals, while children were going to school hungry, they said, adding that low-income families could not afford LPG cylinders costing Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 to meet their cooking needs.
The PPP leaders accused the KE of causing persistent hardship for Karachi’s residents since its establishment. They demanded that the power utility be taken into public ownership and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) ensure an adequate gas supply.
The protesters warned that if the prolonged power and gas outages were not brought to an end, their next demonstration would be held outside the KE and SSGC offices rather than the Karachi Press Club.
