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QUETTA, Sept 11: Power supply to 15 of the 29 districts of Balochistan, including Quetta, was disrupted after four pylons supporting two transmission lines in Mach were blown up on Sunday night.
Kharan town was rocked by a bomb blast near the post office building early on Monday.
According to the Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco), saboteurs planted explosives round four pylons of 220kv Uch-Sibi-Quetta transmission line and 132kv Sibi-Mach-Quetta line and detonated it.
The blast blew up the huge towers plunging more than half of Balochistan into darkness.
The electricity supply was restored to some parts of Quetta through the 132kv Quetta-Sibi line and the Habibullah coastal power house.
“The power supply to 28 out of 55 grid stations was affected and with blowing up of four towers Qesco is facing a shortage of 300MW electricity,” Qesco spokesman Jabrail Khan said.
He said that areas fed by the 28 grid stations would face 8 to 10 hours of loadshedding.
Qesco engineers and other staff had started work to replace the damaged towers.
“Restoration of the two transmission lines will take at least two weeks to complete,” the spokesman said, adding that Qesco would suffer a daily loss of Rs30 million until the supply was restored.
The affected districts include Quetta, Kalat, Mastung, Khuzdar, Kharan, Nushki, Chagai, Pishin, Qila Abdullah, Zhob and Sherani.
Qesco sources also said that the company had suffered substantial losses during recent riots.
KHARAN EXPLOSION: Kharan township was rocked when an explosion occurred near the post office.
Police sources said a bomb had been planted between the post office and the office of an intelligence agency that went off early on Monday.
Walls of the post office and the intelligence agency office were damaged and windowpanes were shattered.
A case against unknown assailants has been registered and some suspects have been taken into custody for interrogation.
District nazim Mir Shaukat Baloch condemned the explosion.
