KARACHI: Ikram Sehgal, Chairman and Moonis Alvi, CEO of K-Electric expressed their appreciation for the timely assistance of the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers, which proved critical in averting a crisis situation when floodwaters entered KE’s KDA grid station.
As a result of the untiring efforts of KE teams and the Pakistan Army over several hours, the threat has been neutralized. The KDA grid was fully re-energized at 2:00 PM and power supply to affected areas has been normalized. Pak Army and Rangers worked in tandem with KE teams to deal with the threat by building dams, digging trenches and using sandbags to divert the flow of the water and using pumps to clear the grid station.
Torrential monsoon rains had caused Lath Dam near Super Highway to overflow and floodwater entered the grid which is located at Gulzar-i-Hijri, Scheme-33. This is a strategic 220kV grid installation which also serves as an interconnection point between KE and the national grid.
The Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers responded swiftly to KE’s request for aid in averting the threat of flooding at the grid station. The Pakistan Army mobilized all resources including equipment and manpower to work with the KE team which was present on site and helped to bring the situation under control.
Per K-Electric spokesperson, “When the dam started to overflow Tuesday night and the water entered the KDA grid, as an emergency safety measure KE was forced to suspend power supply to parts of Sohrab Goth, Abul Hassan Isphahani Road, Super Highway and KWSB’s NEK Pumping station, which have now been normalized. Had water levels continued to rise, the entire grid would have had to be shut down to ensure the safety of people and equipment, which given the criticality of this grid to KE’s network, would have affected power supply to several other areas.”
KE directed immediate rescue and repair teams to the site with pumps, sandbags and other equipment to stem the inflow. The arrival of contingents of the Pakistan Army with heavy machinery, bulldozers and pumps helped avert a crisis. News Desk
