As power supply was restored in many areas of Pakistan hours after hundreds of Pakistanis were left without electricty due to a technical fault in the country's power distribution system, seven employees were suspended at the Guddu thermal power plant in Sindh, where the fault reportedly took place.
The blackout began at about 11.50 pm on Saturday, 9 January, when power failures were reported in all major cities, including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Hospitals around Pakistan faced no disruption, as they rely on backup generators, AFP reported.
What Caused the Blackout?
According to the National Transmission and Despatch Company, the blackout was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan said in a tweet.
As per the Central Power Generation Company, seven employees at Sindh’s Guddu thermal power plant, including a manager and six other junior employees. were suspended "on account of the negligence of duty", AFP reported.
Central Power Generation Company runs the Guddu power plant, which is where the glitch reportedly took place, Dawn said in a report. However, the report also notes that the protection system of the transmission network was unresponsive to the error and thus the blackout was ultimately a result of dismal maintenance of transmission system.
Energy Minister Omar Ayub informed that power supply was restored at all Gujranwala Electric Power Company stations and also in Gujarat and Mandi Bahauddin districts. Power supply has also been restored at both 500kv Rawat-Naukhar circuit and the 500kv Tarberla- Rawat circuit.
Ayub Khan also tweeted that 132KV grid stations around Lahore have been energised including Shadman, Qartaba, Mc Leod Road, Gulshan Ravi, Fort, Saidpur, Shamke, Sagihan, Ravi, Bund Road, Badami Bagh, Sabzar, Sheikhpura, Orient and Sapphire.
As per Geo News, the power supply remains shut in most districts of Balochistan including Quetta city.
Speaking about how the power will be restored completely, he said it will take a few more hours, while the power supply in some cities had resumed. He said that the Tarbela power plant was fired up soon after the breakdown, following which the power supply was restored to Islamabad, Rawalpindi and half of Lahore.
AFP quoted a water and power ministry spokesman as saying that power had been restored in some parts of the country but many areas in Lahore and Karachi were still waiting. He added that an investigation has been launched to probe the cause of the blackout.
Netblocks, which monitors internet outages, said internet connectivity in the country ‘collapsed’ as a result of the blackout.
(With inputs from IANS and AFP ANI and Hindustan Times)
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