SAHIWAL, March 18: Residents of several parts of the district went through an ordeal on Thursday, as electricity remained suspended for seven hours due to some fault in Mepco grid station.

People faced a great deal of difficulty in getting water in homes and mosques. The fault was developed because of frequent line losses in the Wapda operation circle, said the affected residents, who requested the higher-ups to take stock of the situation. In scheme No 2, Farid Town, electricity played hide and seek for hours on Wednesday night.

ROBBERIES: Robbers plundered cash and valuables worth Rs1.9 million from the passengers of a bus on the Lahore-Multan Road near Kassowal bypass on Thursday.

Reports said a bus (LXC-6101) was going from Multan to Lahore in the morning when the robbers, occupying a car (LRN-792), stopped it. They took the bus to the branch route where they robbed the passengers of cash, ornaments and other valuables.

Some Multan-based traders were among the passengers and they were deprived of hundreds of thousands of rupees in cash and kind. Dacoits on Wednesday night looted valuables amounting to more than Rs1 million in three strikes in and around the district.

Armed men plundered cash and prize bonds worth Rs187,000 at Fayyaz Husain's shop on the GT Road. From the house of a general councillor, Shamshad, robbers took away cash and ornaments worth Rs830,000. Unidentified men took away a trawler laden with potatoes worth Rs90,000 at Chak 82/6-R. Relevant police stations have registered cases.

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