Sir: In the month of May, the city of Multan, like the rest of Punjab, faced crippling power breakdowns, which lasted between nine and 14 hours every day. During the month, I visited Karachi twice; the first time, I stayed there for five days and the second time for two days. To my utter surprise, I only witnessed a 10-minute breakdown in Phase 5, DHA, where I was staying. I also paid a visit to Lahore where I have a residence located in Phase 3, DHA. The power breakdowns in Lahore were even worse than in Multan as here the shutdowns extended from 12 to 16 hours on a daily basis. I fail to understand this unfair load management. If Pakistan has an acute electricity shortage, then all citizens of Pakistan should share it equally. According to my host in Karachi, the KESC load management exempts localities like the DHA, where billing is over 80 percent while in certain localities of Karachi where billing is as low as 56 percent, there is load shedding, which varies from eight to 12 hours a day. Why is this unfair load management by government going on in the rest of the country? The worst load shedding crisis is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan, and parts of interior Sindh, while in Karachi, the load management is proportional to bill recovery. Since the 1990s, every government, including General Musharraf’s and the present PPP-led coalition, has ignored hydel power generation and resorted to more expensive electricity because of attractive kickbacks. We have seen corrupt political, khaki and civil bureaucrats politicise every proposal to build dams for hydel power generation, intentionally with ulterior motives. Today, Pakistan is facing an economic nightmare because of corruption and the greed of a few. SYED JAWAID HUSSAIN Multan