NAWABSHAH, Nov 3: Passengers as well as staff of the Pakistan Railways are experiencing difficulties due to disconnection of power supply to Nawabshah railway station and colony.

Hesco had disconnected power supply on October 9 because of non-payment of bills.

Railway platforms and colony plunge into complete darkness after sunset causing problems to passengers as well as railway staff to run smooth operation in absence of electricity.

Requesting anonymity, an official of the Pakistan Railways told this reporter that railways had to pay Rs2.5 million to restore supply. Work of online reservation office had also badly disrupted causing huge losses to railways.

The staff had, however, managed to get a little fuel for generator through which they are managing affairs on daily basis but the working was not smooth due to suspension of electric supply.

Signal system and assistant station master’s office, responsible for traffic control, were also being run on batteries posing a risk as it was un-reliable, he said and added that there were almost 100 families living in miserable condition in the colony where even water was not available.

The Divisional Superintendent of Railways, Sukkur, and the Station Master could not be reached for comments.

The Executive Engineer of Hesco, Saeed Ahmed Dawachh, told Dawn that they had disconnected supply in the last week of September after which railway officials assured that they would make payments within one week. But when they failed to fulfil their commitment, the supply was again disconnected on October 9.

Employees as well as people of Nawabshah have demanded of the railway minister and chairman Pakistan Railways to take notice of the issue and direct the finance department to immediately clear all electricity dues to restore power supply.