SAHIWAL: Around 14 to 16 hours “forced” loadshedding has been imposed on the Pakpattan city and a few localities of the Sahiwal city since Sunday.

Sources close to the situation told Dawn on Tuesday the 132KV Pakpattan grid station, supplying electricity to the Pakpattan city, and the 132KV grid station at Tariq Bin Ziyad Colony, supplying electricity to the Sahiwal city, have been closed since Sunday.

Grid stations across Pakistan have been classified as A, B and C. A Multan Electric Power Company official, seeking anonymity, told Dawn that during the peak shortfall of power, the National Transmission and Dispatch Company closed C category stations first, while both Pakpattan and Tariq Bin Ziyad Colony grid stations fall into the C category.

The country is facing a 3,000MW shortfall of electricity and the shortfall regime is met with the closure of C type grid stations. The closures of the two grid station forced 14 to 16 hours loadshedding in the localities of Pakpattan and Sahiwal districts.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016