PESHAWAR, July 21: A major power breakdown left several parts of the NWFP and Punjab without electricity on Monday.

Official sources said that several parts in the central NWFP and Punjab experienced power breakdown for well over three hours after the power supply from the Tarbela dam’s powerhouse came to a halt at 1:40am.

The power supply got suspended after the main transmission line supplying electricity from the power house of the Tarbela dam project to the National Transmission and Dispatch Centre (NTDC) developed a fault due to short circuiting caused by storm and heavy rains that lashed several parts of the Frontier province.

“The transmission line supplying power from the powerhouse to the National Transmission and Dispatch Centre developed a fault bringing the whole system to a halt,” said an official.

Several parts of the districts of Peshawar, Nowshera,  Mardan, Charsadda and Swabi in the NWFP experienced suspension of power for well over three hours.

“Seventy per cent areas of the districts of Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera and Charsadda were affected by the power breakdown,”  said a Peshawar-based official of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

Chairman Wapda Lt Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan has constituted a four-member committee involving senior officers of his organization to look into the matter and find reasons for the power breakdown.

This is not for the first time that several parts of the central NWFP had gone through a major power breakdown in summer as a result of some problem at Tarbela dam’s powerhouse.

The committee has been asked to submit the report within 24 hours to the Water and Power Development Authority chairman.

The committee includes chief engineer Tarbela powerhouse, chief engineer protection and instrumentation, chief engineer surveillance (Wapda house, Lahore) and general manager operations (Wapda house, Lahore).

Chief engineer powerhouse, Tarbela, when contacted told Dawn that the breakdown was caused by strong winds and heavy downpour which lashed the area housing the Tarbela dam project.

However, he avoided to explain in detail the nature of the fault that brought the powerhouse to a halt.

“Electricity supply was restored at around 4:45am in  almost all the affected parts of the province,” sources said.

Though Water and Power Development Authority officials claimed that power supply was restored at 4:45am, a number of localities in the provincial capital remained without electricity till 10:00am.