ALL utility companies throughout the world carry out maintenance work in a way that does not hurt their clients.

However, K-Electric (KE) seems to have no idea how maintenance is done elsewhere in the world.

Let me write not just about my locality, but about the vast area KE`s maintenance calamity covers in my case. Briefly, the area falling victim to KE`s `maintenance` includes Gulshan-i-Iqbal`s blocks 3, 4, 4-A, Azim Goth and Quaid-i-Azam Colony.

Recently, electricity disappeared at9.50 in the morning to return at 5.45 in the evening. One can imagine how this nearly eight hours of blackout must have affected daily life.

Computers remained idle, fans did not whirl, and housewives had to cook food in kitchens that were dark. When they came out of the kitchens, there were no fans to provide them relief.

They ran out of water because machines pumping water to overhead tanks could not work. In brief, it was a kind of torture one could do nothing about except pray and keep ringing the KE helpline.

It is time KE got in touch with power companies abroad, and learnt how they carry out maintenance without torturing their clients. If they were to carry out maintenance works the way KE people do, they would be out of business within 24 hours. KE high-ups have no such fears.

A consumer Karachi