April 28, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1429

QUETTA, April 27: Gas supply to a vast area in southern Punjab suspended on Saturday night because of blasts in pipelines could not be restored on Sunday. The pipelines were blown up at two points in the Lanjoseghari area.

According to officials, the blasts had affected gas supply to Rahimyar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarah, Sargodha, and several other cities and towns. “The pipelines are being repaired but it will take at least 36 hours to restore the supply,” officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited said. They said that security in the area had been beefed up to protect the workers repairing the pipelines.

Meanwhile, gas supply to the Uch power plant in Dera Murad Jamali was suspended after militants blew up another pipeline in Jaffarabad.

Sources said that the blast ignited the gas flowing through the 30-inch diameter underground pipeline. They said that the fire was brought under control after the gas supply from Sui was cut off.

“The explosion blew up an eight-foot portion of the pipeline which also damaged another pipeline passing through the area,” a gas company official said.

“The gas supply to two power plants in southern Punjab, one of them in Mazfargarah, was stopped,” officials said, adding that the suspension had affected several industrial units, including fertiliser factories.

Gas company officials said they were facing a shortage of 30 to 40 per cent after supplies were suspended from Sui.

A spokesman of the outlawed Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for blowing up the pipelines.