SWAT: A huge fire at the main 132KV Rahimabad grid station caused a power outage in most areas of Swat district on Thursday.

Officials of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company said though no casualties were reported, the fire badly damaged machinery and other goods on the premises.

They said work to restore electric supply had begun and would take around three days to complete.

The fire erupted at around 9am and continued until 12pm causing the suspension of power supply to Mingora, Saidu Sharif, Rahimabad, Takhta Bund, Kanju Bypass, Watkey, Udigram, Qambar, Balogram, Hingaro Dherai, Kabal, Qalagey, Godara, Sangota, Manglore, Malam Jabba, Deolai, Marghazar, Haji Baba, Ajrang and many other areas of the district.

The witnesses said a huge blast occurred in the grid station before the fire engulfed major feeders.

The Rescue 1122 personnel took three hours to put out the fire.

Pesco says electric supply to be restored in three days

Pesco superintending engineer Khalid Khan said the fire destroyed five feeders suspending power supply to major parts of the district. He said the ‘panels’ of eight feeders and cables of 17 were reduced to ashes in the incident.

“A technical team has reached Swat from Mardan for the rehabilitation of feeders,” he said, adding that work is already under way to install five feeders and restore electricity.

The official said electric supply could be restored in two to three days.

Chairman of the District Development Advisory Committee Fazal Hakeem Khan Yousafzai visited the grid station and inspected rehabilitation work.

Mr Khalid told him that work could be completed in two to three days.

He apologised to the people of Swat over power outage.

The DDAC chief asked the Pesco officials to restore electric supply on an emergency basis.

The residents of Mingora city complained that the power outage caused water shortages in the hot weather to their misery.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2021