BAHAWALPUR: Over five-hour long breakdown of the Baghdad-ul-Jadid grid station left thousands of domestic and commercial consumers without electricity in more than 25 localities of the city.

According to Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) Bahawalpur Circle Superintending Engineer Jamil Ahmed Bhatti, the disruption in the power supply was caused by faults in Baghdad-ul-Jadid feeder.

He said the power supply to some city areas areas was initially suspended when a main transformer collapsed after a truck hit the pole it was mounted on. However, he said, when the transformer was reinstalled, another fault was reported in the main electric lines.

It took the Mepco staff five hours to detect the fault and rectify it.

The power supply got suspended around 3pm and could be restored after 8pm.

PROTEST: As many as 145 class-four daily-wage employees staged a protest demo after they were dismissed from service by the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) management on Tuesday.

On receipt of dismissal orders, the sacked employees staged a protest demonstration in front of the office of BVH Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prof Dr Javed Iqbal.

They raised slogans against the BVH administration and the Punjab government and demanded they should be reinstated and their service be regularised.

They appealed to Punjab chief minister to intervene and provide them relief.

BVH medical superintendent told Dawn that the management had outsourced the sanitation services to a private company and service of most of the sacked employees would be transferred to the firm.

He said these employees had been informed at the time of recruitment on contract that their service could be terminated without any notice.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2018