HYDERABAD: An inquiry ordered by the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) chief executive officer (CEO) into the July 22 transformer blast incident in Akbari mosque area in Latifabad Unit-8 appears to have run into snags over a variety of reasons.

The inquiry had not yet been closed but it had indeed been stopped, said an official on Sunday. Members of the inquiry team have not yet been able to record statements of the victims’ heirs since the tragedy happened.

Statements of the injured Hesco employees had not been recorded while Faisal had already died, added the official.

He said that arrest of executive engineer of Rizvi subdivision, Zafar Solangi, and line superintendent Abdul Saleem was a disturbing development. He did not say inquiry has been stopped because of these arrests. “Rumours are that more arrests will follow,” he said.

Latifabad A-Section police arrested XEN Zafar Solangi and LS Abdul Saleem late on Saturday night. Saleem’s name was already on the FIR besides other Hesco employees but police included Solangi’s name during the course of the investigation, he said.

The statements of the injured and heirs were vital for the inquiry but they were not willing to record statements. “The heirs are not yet willing to talk to the Hesco team. Heavy compensation is being talked about,” he said.

Hesco had announced a compensation of Rs750,000 each for the blast victims but the offer was rejected by heirs. Hesco officials hope once heirs would accept the compensation, inquiry team would be in a position to speak to them.

In the latest development on Monday, Hesco CEO Rehan Hamid, in view of mounting pressure from society, political parties and heirs finally wrote a letter to federal secretary (power division) ministry of energy, urging him to approach the federal government for the payment of “highest amount of compensation” to the aggrieved families.

Hesco spokesman confirmed Monday that CEO had stated that the incident had caused violent reaction and anger in public, leading to ransacking and torching of Hesco operation division office. An FIR has been lodged. He said legal heirs were demanding higher compensation.

“In larger public interest, Hesco’s smooth operation of activities, especially continuity of electricity supply aggrieved families may be extended with highest compensation for their irreparable loss. It is requested to approach federal government for such sufficient compensation”, CEO urged federal secretary (power division).

The inquiry team had decided to get Akbari mosque transformer examined in a laboratory through a third party to know whether Hesco was supplied a “fault-free” transformer and “what was the cause of the fire on July 22 that claimed 10 lives.”

It was learnt Hesco was trying to get the transformer examined through Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research but the latter informed Hesco that “they don’t examine burnt transformer”.

The transformer under probe was issued in 2018 and it was not old. The team wants to know cause of the fire in the transformer, which caused massive burn wounds to one and a half dozen people standing under the PMT. The inquiry team would see whether repair had been carried out in an appropriate manner at the private workshop.

The Hesco CEO had suspended SDO Mohammad Irfan, line superintendents Ashfaq Kaimkhani and Abdul Saleem, lineman-I Farooq Baig and Mohammadi grid station official Lal Bux, who failed to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the process of energising the transformer, he said.

“The transformer was installed and energized with a brief suspension whereas required procedure was not followed,” said Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubar.

It was an open secret that Hesco officials routinely got their transformers repaired at private workshops and charged the power utility as well after having them repaired through ‘donations’ from power consumers of the affected area.

Hesco spokesman said that detailed inquiry would be finalised once suspended officials submitted their written replies to show-cause notices. Besides, he said, police were also investigating the tragedy after registration of an FIR at A-Section police station, said the sources.

The teams of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) had visited Hyderabad and met suspended officials a couple of days back.

They had also met heirs of deceased in Khwaja Colony. The visiting officials also inquired after the health of the injured in Karachi’s private hospital before leaving for Lahore.

Latifabad A-Section police have apprehended three workers of a private workshop located on Hali Road where the transformer was repaired. The arrests were made in case 199/21 which Latifabad police lodged on behalf of the state.

They included Mohammad Arsalan Rehmani, Atif Arain and Majid Ali Jat, who are in judicial custody. The workshop owner was still at large. “The arrests were made as the workshop owner did not have license to repair such transformers of Hesco,” said SHO Imran Rasheed.

In a short span of one month, 13 lives have been lost in two identical incidents of fire in the transformer. The first incident was reported on June 18, when seven persons including five children suffered burns in Islamabad Mohalla and then 18 persons received massive burn wounds on July 22 in the second incident.

Hesco had not ordered an inquiry into the June 18 transformer fire nor announced compensation for the death of three boys in that incident.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2021