GUJRAT: The power supply to the city’s main public and private sector hospitals remained suspended for almost five hours after a major breakdown of the main supply line of the Marghzar sub-division on early hours of Tuesday.

The city’s major health facilities, including Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital, are located on Bhimbher Road in the area which had the posh localities like Marghzar Colony, Model Town and Gulshan Colony besides Zamindar College and Marghzar campus of the University of Gujrat.

The locals lodged a protest against the breakdown, which, they said, could have been rectified within an hour as the line staff was available but their high-ups were not available for issuance of the cable that needed to be replaced.

A local said the engineering staff of the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) was mostly not available for remedial measures required in such critical conditions.

He said the locals had also lodged a complaint with the chief executive officer of Gepco through an email against the delayed response. The power was restored after the lapse of five years on Tuesday morning.

The power disruption caused difficulty for the locals as well as the patients in the hospitals.

The locals have urged the authorities concerned to take punitive action against those responsible for the delayed response to the breakdown.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2019