Power cut hits KP, work in factories remains suspended

PESHAWAR: A power cut caused by a technical fault at the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, bringing work at factories to a grinding halt and suspending businesses across the province.

The day-long power outage that struck at about 9am also caused numerous hardships to the common people, particularly the household women who had to dispose of their domestic chores for Ramazan.

The power cut halted work at the industries in the industrial heartlands of the province. The daily wagers in many areas of Peshawar city and industrial estates waited all the day for the restoration of power.

One of the industrialists, Muhammad Ishaq, who is also former vice-president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), said the losses caused to the industries and business due to the abrupt power cut could safely be estimated at a little less than a billion rupees.

Shaukat Afzal, director general media and public relations, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and also spokesperson for the company, said that the major blackout had hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

He said the power cut hit at 9:55am as a major section of the national grid “tripped.” “We could not manage the power cut timely as a section of the national grid suddenly shut down,” he added.

The ministry of Power and Energy said that due to tripping of a major plant, the north system went off and the power cut hit major northern parts of the country. The power cuts and scheduled outages commonly known as loadshedding in urban and rural areas that started at 7am in the Peshawar and other divisions of the province were also carried as per schedule and these areas didn’t have power supply for 12 hours on Wednesday

The Pesco spokesperson said power supply was restored to parts of the province in phase-wise manner and first restoration was made at about 12:20pm. He said power supply to only two feeders, Hayatabad and Domail, remained suspended till 7pm. However, he added that power supply could be restored at about 7pm to the entire the province.