Pakistanis Face Power Blackout as Several Cities Plunge Into Darkness
-- Managing Director NTDC Engineer Dr Khawaja Riffat Hassan is present at the data centre of 220 kV grid station New Kot Lakhpat to supervise power restoration efforts
By Our Web Desk
A massive power outage was reported late Saturday night from several cities across Pakistan.
The cities facing disruption included Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Muzaffargarh, Narowal, Bhakkar, Kabirwala, Khanewal, Bahawalpur and Sukkur.
The breakdown extended as far as Azad Kashmir. Furthermore 29 districts of Balochistan were without power.
Mobile and internet services have also been affected due to the breakdown.
A 500kVA transmission line has tripped and that Jhelum, Tarbela and Mangla power plants are shut.
In Islamabad, all sectors lost power. Within Karachi, outages were reported from Korangi, Defence, Garden, Clifton, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, MA Jinnah Road, II Chundrigar Road, Liaquatabad, and FB Area.
Even the Jinnah International Airport remained without power.
Minister for Power Omar Ayub, in a statement on Twitter, said that the “frequency in the power distribution system suddenly dropped from 50 to 0 which caused the blackout”.
“We are trying to ascertain what caused the drop in frequency.”
Ayub said that Tarbela “will be activated so a phase wise restoration can be carried out”.
He requested the nation to exercise patience.
“All of our teams have reached their respective stations. As the Minister for Power I am personally overseeing the work for restoration of power.
“We will keep you updated periodically over the progress in power restoration,” he added.
MD NTDC making efforts for power restoration
Managing Director National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) Engineer Dr Khawaja Riffat Hassan was present at the data centre of 220 kV grid station New Kot Lakhpat Lahore in late hours to supervise power restoration efforts.
