KARACHI: Residents’ protests against the disruption of electric and water supplies to their localities caused severe traffic jams in major parts of the city on Friday, piling miseries on commuters who remained stuck on the roads and streets for hours. Hundreds of vehicles moved bumper-to-bumper at a snail’s pace on a portion of the M. A. Jinnah Road and Shahrah-i-Quaideen for hours, further leading to traffic jams on the connecting roads and streets, including Preedy Street and Sharea Faisal. The residents of Jacob Lines, including women and children, took to the streets a little after noon in protest against disconnection of power supply in their vicinity and blocked the signal-free Corridor-III from Saddar to Peoples Chowrangi. The protesters said that K-Electric had disconnected the power supply in their locality three days ago due to non-payment of bills, which they said were excessive and unjustified. The power utility, however, said that the electricity of defaulters was disconnected in Jacob Lines, Madina Road and 75 Quarters in Lines Area where the outstanding amount exceeded Rs450 million.
