Mayor asks SC to hold trial over electrocution deaths publicly
A day after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) held the K-Electric (KE) responsible for 19 electrocution deaths during the recent rains in Karachi, the city’s mayor, Wasim Akhtar, requested the Supreme Court (SC) to issue directives for conducting the trial on the issue publicly.
He made the request to the SC while addressing a press conference on Saturday at the Karachi Press Club. He said it was a good precedent that Nepra in its inquiry had given its verdict in favour of the heirs of the deceased who lost their lives due to electrocution in rain-related incidents.
An investigation committee of Nepra said in the inquiry report issued on Friday that KE was responsible for 19 of 35 electrocution deaths during the recent rains in Karachi.
The power regulator also held KE responsible for prolonged power cuts in the city during rains and issued a show-cause notice to the power utility over the deaths and power breakdown.
The investigation committee was constituted by Nepra in August under the Section 27-A of the Nepra Act 1997.
The mayor praised the conclusions of the investigation committee and said that Nepra had shown seriousness over Karachi’s problems although it was a federal body. “They’ve fixed the reasonability on KE,” he said and requested the apex court to pass orders for holding the trial
against the power utility publicly. He also requested the SC to allow all the petitioners to be part of the case and demanded compensation for the affected families.
Akhtar maintained that there had been 40 deaths due to electrocution during recent spells of rain in Karachi. He requested the president and the prime minister to ensure that the findings of Nepra were followed by some meaningful action.
Criticising KE, Akhtar said due to its negligence, parents had to offer funeral prayers for their children during Eidul Azha. “People of Karachi aren’t cats or dogs. They are human beings,” he said.
The mayor said it happened nowhere in the world that warnings were put on electric poles asking people to stay away from them or else they might die.
The mayor lamented that the civic infrastructure of Karachi had collapsed and the various tiers of government were doing nothing but passing the buck.
The city, he said, needed budget and relaxation of rules so that construction activities could take place. To a question regarding the stance of his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), over the electrocution deaths, Akhtar said the issue had been raised in the National Assembly by his party which caused Nepra to take action.
When asked why his party did not seem to be actively supporting him in his fight against KE, he responded that the MQM-P leadership had the stance regarding the power utility that he had.
Responding to the Nepra report, KE had said in a statement that it was a responsible and law-abiding organisation and will submit its response to the authority in stipulated time.
“KE is deeply saddened by the tragic incidents, which occurred during the recent torrential rains and sympathizes with the affected families. It is however important to mention that many of these unfortunate incidents occurred inside homes due to faulty wiring, unsafe use of electrical appliances or because of kundas and the unwarranted placement of cable TV and Internet cables on electricity poles, a fact which is also substantiated by the NEPRA’s initial findings as well,” said the statement
(By Oonib Azam The News, 08 September 2019)