THATTA, Nov 4: The power supply to the historic Shahjahan Mosque has been disconnected by Hesco authorities rendering great inconvenience to the people in performing their prayers and reciting the Holy Quran during the month of Ramazan.

The mosque was built in 1678 by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan under the supervision of the then governor of Thatta, Amir Khan.

The executive engineer, Provincial Building Department, Thatta, Khurshid Anwar, told this correspondent that ever since the Sindh Tourism Development Corporation handed over the mosque to the PBD in 1997, it had received a demand worth Rs38,667 regarding outstanding dues towards the mosque since January 2002 by Hesco followed by huge bills of the amount wavered, claimed to be outstanding against the mosque.

The XEN said that through a letter to the chief engineer, PBD, while seeking permission for the payment, he had recommended that the connection be declared in the cadre of “priority connection” with the consent of Hesco.

He said that as the annual funds do not include payments except for the maintenance of the mosque, so they were not empowered to clear the dues without the permission of higher authorities. The Hesco SDO was not available for comment. However, a source at Hesco revealed that due to protest, he was going to temporarily restore the power today.