VEHARI, Aug 19: Another major power failure hit several towns of Vehari, Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur districts on Wednesday night. Earlier on July 14, the power supply remained suspended in the three districts for several days on account of fire at the Vehari circle grid station control room.

The power supply from seven feeders, including Vehari town, was restored till the filing of this report at 9pm on Thursday. However, the power supply will frequently be suspended till the finding of the actual fault at the grid station control room and its repair.

This was stated by sub-station operator second Muhammad Imran while talking to Dawn here on Thursday evening. He said the protection and testing staff comprising six members reached Vehari from Sahiwal to trace the fault of incoming panel trolley. The fault caused the suspension of power supply from all the 14 feeders.

However, he said the grid station staff had made alternate arrangements for the power supply to consumers after a struggle of some eight hours. He said the newly-installed transformer of 26 MVA capacity was not working due to the panel fault while the power supply from all 14 feeders would be restored till late at night from another transformer.

Last night, power supply remained suspended for two hours in the whole Vehari circle, including Vehari-Hasilpur, Chishtian, Dahranwala and Kairpur Tamewali. A grid station employee said the power supply was restored after two hours when the electricity load was shifted to another 26 MVA transformer.

Grid station employee Muhammad Yasir told Dawn that some mechanics and other staff were now checking the newly-installed panels in the control room. XEN Ikramul Haq said that there was no fault in the transformer rather it was the fault of main cables which had been changed.

However, the people suffered from frequent power breakdowns here on Thursday as well. A group of Sharqi Colony said that all business activities were badly affected, causing hardships to people in the hot and humid temperature.

Wapda officials were not responding positively to consumers' complaints about the frequent power breakdowns. The people also complained that the grid station and inquiry telephones were not attended by Wapda officials during power suspension. The power supply was suspended at 11am on Thursday in Vehari circle.