Kite-flying causing tripping of power transmission lines

LAHORE :Metallic twine used in kite flying in big cities like Lahore and Faisalabad has started to become a nuisance, causing tripping of power transmission lines. According to a spokesperson for National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC), increased frequency of such incidents is resulting in loss of revenue and can damage costly equipment.

The spokesman said 23 incidents of tripping at 500 KV and 220 KV transmission lines have been reported due to kite flying in Lahore and Faisalabad during the last 6 months.

He said that frequent tripping of the transmission lines resulted in substantial loss in terms of revenue, damage to equipment of NTDC as well as lives of innocent people of the area. The spokesman said that seven incidents of tripping were reported in Lahore, whereas, 16 such incidents were reported in Faisalabad.

The spokesman said that the undue tripping of transmission lines had resulted in interruption of continuous power supply in populous areas, causing unrest for the consumers in Lahore and Faisalabad along with substantial loss of revenue to the company.

The NTDC Spokesman feared that metallic string being used for kite flying was posing serious threat to the National Transmission and Despatch Company installations worth millions of rupees. NTDC authorities have also taken up the matter with the deputy commissioners of Lahore and Faisalabad for stringent action against the kite flyers and the people involved in the business of kite selling in order to stop the malicious practice, hampering smooth running of NTDC transmission network.