09 March 2004	Tuesday	17 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, March 8: Over 87,000 consumers of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation lost their power supply, when a ground excavator of the Frontier Works Organization , working on Korangi Road, damaged the 132-KV extra-high-tension main power supply cable linking two grid stations in Jacob Lines and Garden on Monday.

A KESC spokesman told Dawn that at least 35 feeders, which received electricity from the two feeders, had become dead. He added that while 19 feeders had been normalized, immediate repair of the remaining feeders was on.

He said that a KESC team, headed by chief engineer Khalid Iqbal, was busy in the repair. "Power supply to Jacob Lines, Saddar, Frere Road, Arambagh, Garden, and Soldier Bazaar was disconnected because of the fault," he said, adding that repair of the 132-KV underground cable might take three to four days.

"This is the third incidence of main line cable damage in the last seven months. Earlier, excavation for date tree plantation had cut off the main line on Sharea Faisal, while Lyari Expressway workers had damaged a main cable near the Liaquatabad-Gulshan bridge. Another main underground line was also damaged at the Korangi-Mahmoodabad intersection," he recalled.

He pointed out that the KESC had chalked out a digging programme in collaboration with the FWO, adding that the digging responsible for the damage of the cable on Monday had been in the area outside the previously agreed programme.