Protests against load-shedding continued in Karachi on Tuesday, causing severe traffic jams across the city with the roads leading to the country’s biggest port having choked as well. Hundreds of heavy long vehicles were seen piled up as major arteries in the area remained blocked.
Several areas in Karachi have recently been facing power outages, including: Hijrat Colony, Sultanabad, Nazimabad, Gulistan-e-Johar, Burnes Road, Karsaz, Defence Housing Authority, Clifton, Baldia Town, Manghopir, Orangi Town, and Landhi.
The police have also blocked the Lyari Expressway for traffic at Garden Interchange to Mauripur road, it was reported. Authorities have also resorted to baton charge at protesters to disperse them.
A comment from K-Electric, the company responsible for distributing electricity to the city, was still awaited at the time of this story.
Earlier, electricity consumers of Hijrat Colony and Sultanabad blocked PIDC bridge and MT Khan Road to protest against the prolonged load-shedding.
The protesters raised slogans against the government and K-Electric, demanding restoration of their power supply.
Moreover, a large number of Lines Areas residents also came out on main Shara-e-Faisal and blocked the key road near Gora Qabristan.
Pakistan is facing a daunting power crisis due to which the government has resorted to load-shedding all over the country. The country is facing up to 10 hours load-shedding in urban and rural areas driven in part by peak temperature driven demand.
Presently, the generation in the country is about 20,000 MW against demand of 28,000 MW of which 25,000 MW is regular demand in the country. This excludes K-Electric, which is also getting up to 1,100 MW from national grid, while over 3,000 MW is based on high-loss feeders.