August 29, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani 19,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

HYDERABAD/QUETTA, Aug 28: Jamshoro Thermal Power Station ceased functioning when its two remaining units also broke down on Tuesday night, owing to massive failure in the system, crippling the power supply, while a major breakdown in Balochistan plunged many parts of the province in darkness for over 15 hours on Wednesday.

In Jamshoro, a major power supply source, the remaining two units, No 1 and 3 were already under overhauling.

Sources said Unit 4 would take quite some time to refunction as a vibration had been developed in its turbine whereas Unit 2 might become operational within the next two to three days.

Unit No 1 may start working by Sept 5, but Unit 3 would take at least three months to restart as it had to be totally overhauled, they said.

The power station with all the four units in order produces 880mw of electricity.

Our Staff Correspondent adds from Quetta:Quetta and major parts of southern Balochistan remained without electricity on Wednesday for about 15 hours due to disruption of power supply from main transmission lines which developed a major fault on Wednesday.

The fault was developed in the 132kv Sibi-Mach and 220kv Sibi-Quetta power transmission lines circuit somewhere between Mach and Sibi, resulting in disruption in normal life in the provincial capital and major parts of Balochistan in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The power supply to Quetta, Kharan, Chagai, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Wadh, Pishin and other remote parts of Balochistan remained suspended till late evening.

There were heavy rains with strong winds blowing in the Sibi region, battering the transmission lines and, resultantly, in suspension of power supply to Quetta and other parts of the province.

Heavy rains were also reported from parts of Sibi-Kacchi plains and northern parts of Balochistan in Ziarat and Loralai region and parts of the Quetta Valley — not the provincial metropolis itself.

It brought the normal life to a halt, plunging the major parts of Balochistan into complete darkness around 2.40am on Wednesday. The power supply was restored around 7am in some parts of Quetta city through the Habibullah Coastal Power, an IPP operating in this part of the country, but it went off again after a minute.

However, the power supply was restored after making local arrangements with the powerhouse of the Habibullah Coastal Power.

The health care system was badly affected.

According to a spokesman of the QESCO, the power supply to parts of Balochistan was disrupted first following a breakdown in the system around 11pm and later at 2.40am.

The 132kv towers was cleared after repair while another tower of 220kv fell on yet another tower causing massive disruption of power supply. The major power supply system from Sibi to Quetta could not be restored till late in the night.

Official sources, however, said the fault was being removed and snapped wires reconnected and power supply was expected to be restored soon.