Protest against loadshedding, inflated billing by KESC: Karachi small traders' rally today

Karachi small traders will take out a protest rally on Tuesday against the unabated long-hours electricity load shedding, and have threatened to take over the power supplier's operations if the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) did not resolve the energy crisis.
The protesting traders' rally will start from Kaliq Dina Hall on MA Jinnah Road and end at CM House to press their demands, Chairman of All Karachi Tahir Ittehad Muhammad Atiq Mir told Business Recorder on Monday. He said that traders were primarily not against the increasing load shedding in Karachi, but wanting the KESC to improve its power distribution system, set up new feeders, and streamline the entire mechanism of electricity generation.
He said traders were compelled to stage such demonstrations to pressurise the KESC, which with the passage of time had emerged as a weak power provider. "Traders are willing to demonstrate their anger and frustration against KESC's unchallenging monopoly before it is too late," he said. He also demanded of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take notice of the increasing seriousness of the load shedding issue in Karachi.
The traders' leader also urged the civil society and citizens to support the traders protest rally with the hope to compel the KESC administration for the city's better future. "No one in the city would like to have a future without electricity," he added.
He urged the KESC administration to take back its all fuel adjustment charges, besides implementing the agreement with improvement in distribution system with setting up of new feeders and grid stations. He also accused the company of dispatching inflated monthly bills to average residential and commercial users, saying the company wanted to meet its deficit through such tactics.
He warned the government of a shutter-down strike in the metropolis against the power frequent and long-hours load shedding besides the KESC for its poor power supplying system, causing outages. He also announced that traders would continue their struggle in the future against the company's arbitrary decisions on the city's electricity issues, particularly its failure to make the distribution and generation system faultless.