12 February 2005	Saturday	02 Muharram 1426

LAHORE, Feb 11: The Water and Power Development Authority has suffered Rs20 million loss in 11 subversive attacks in various parts of Balochistan during the last 25 days.

Speaking at a press conference at the Wapda House on Friday, National Transmission and Dispatch Company Chief Executive Muhammad Shabir Chaudhry revealed that 26 installations, especially the transmission line supplying electricity to Guddu-Sibbi-Quetta (Balochistan) came under attack.

He said Wapda had made special arrangements for the security of its installations by heightening patrolling and security staff. However, the NTDC chief said, there were around 631 towers located at a distance of every 400 meters at the Guddu-Sibbi line and it was virtually impossible for the authority to secure all of them in a hostile territory.

Answering a question, he said, the authority had also sought help of local sardars for stopping such attacks on transmission lines and towers and they had promised to consider the request. In response to another query, he denied paying any sardar for the security of installations.

It is interesting to note that in one case, the attackers informed the Wapda officials about their subversive act on some of the installations. He said the Wapda installations were being attacked through missiles and rocket launchers during night.

The Wapda officials, he said, had been instructed to vacate installations after sunset in all the affected areas. The NTDC chief, while answering a question, said no group had accepted responsibility of attacks so far.

However, the Balochistan IGP had informed the authority that six people suspected of having been involved in attacks had been arrested. To another question, he said the Wapda staff did restoration in the minimum possible time.

Even a breakdown due to sabotage, which caused major interruption of power supply to Balochistan, was restored in less than 24 hours. The entire restoration work had been completed, except on two poles - the Uch-Sibbi and one pole near Bakhtiarabad.

Work on these locations was being carried out on war footing and should be completed soon. The Wapda engineers, Mr Chaudhry said, were capable of restoring power to the affected area without interrupting supply. Current rains were hindering repairs, he added.

The authority had approached the Balochistan government and the local sardars for providing security to transmission lines and both had assured additional measures for safety of Wapda installations, he concluded.