Daily Times

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued a contempt of court notice to K-Electric chief executive officer Tayyab Tareen, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) chairman Tariq Sadozi and others over unannounced power outages in Karachi.

The notice was issued while hearing a petition filed by a resident, Karamat Ali.

The petitioner had referred to a 2017 judgement of the SHC declaring unannounced power outages ‘unlawful’ and held that the recent ‘fault’ at Bin Qasim power station demonstrated that the power utility had not improved its capability.

A contempt notice was also issued to the vice-chairman of NEPRA, Syed Mansoorul Haq, and the chief operating officer-distribution and head of distribution of K-Electric.

On Monday, Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi had claimed that over 60 people were brought dead to the charity’s two mortuaries in the city due to the ongoing heatwave.

Quoting relatives of the deceased, he said that the number of bodies in their mortuaries in Korangi area has tripled, while in Sohrab Goth, the flow has doubled since Saturday – the day the heatwave hit the metropolis.

He said more than 115 bodies were reported at the two mortuaries, with relatives of 67 claiming heatstroke to be the cause of death.

In 2015, civil society had petitioned the high court that over 1,000 persons died and 40,000 suffered heatstrokes. They claimed K-E failed to provide an uninterrupted power supply that could have eased the suffering of the citizens.

Published in Daily Times, May 23^rd 2018.