LARKANA, Aug 18 The blowing up of three pylons between Uch and Lodran plunged the Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot district into darkness with chaos ruling everywhere.

Hesco sources told Dawn on Tuesday that one pylon was blown up on 14th of this month and the other on 16th by some unidentified people while the third was damaged today (Tuesday).

Power supply to Larkana, Qambar, Shahdadkot and other areas was disrupted on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday while Hesco remained mum over the whole issue. The power departed at mid-night and was resorted at 6 in the morning along with the menace of frequent fluctuation and low voltage.

Damaging of poles had badly affected the 220 KV line of Guddu-Lodran (Shikarpur) Circuit which feeds Larkana and its adjoining areas.

“We are trying to continue with minimum power supply to feeders originating from 132 KV and 66 KV grid stations for the supply of water to residents,” said a source in Hesco.

The hide-and-seek of power had damaged electronics appliances and frequent interruption was leaving negative impact on trade and business activities of both the districts.

Hesco was seeking temporary relief from Dadu-Larkana circuit which itself was overloaded. Voltage fluctuations had damaged heavy motors of rice mills and electronics gadgets at shops and homes.

The life was now at standstill while generators could be heard roaring in main trade centres to instil life in business activities.

The grid stations had no other choice but to adopt a rotation plan so as to supply power to all feeders, though briefly.

The Medical Superintendent of Chandka Medical College Hospital, Dr Zulfikar Siyal said that power supply to their city block remained suspended from 12 midnight to 6pm and in teaching block from 7am to 2pm and almost the same situation was experienced at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital for Women and CMC children.

Only emergency operations were carried out while the lists at surgical wards remained incomplete. The low voltage and unwarranted fluctuations had damaged vital equipment of hospitals. “We tried to keep wards on power generators but could not sustain for long,” he said.

Hesco officials expressed the hope of removing the fault at grid station soon. The overcrowded Larkana Central Prison was no exception where 1,267 inmates were housed against the capacity of 450, said Deputy Jail Superintendent Aurangzeb Kango.

The power remained away from 6am to 11am and then again from 5pm and was not restored till 7.45pm when the report was filed. The over-crowding plus power failure had created suffocation inside the jail, he said.

Reports from Qambar and Shahdadkot revealed prolonged power breakdown besides routine loadshedding of six to eight hours. “We do not know when power would come and go,” commented Gada Hussain Bhatti a resident of Shahdadkot.

Low voltage and unstable power supply was testing the nerves of people, he said.

Qambar was facing acute water shortage as electricity remained away from 1am to 6am.

Hesco sources were unaware as to when the power would be restored completely but admitted that this was in addition to routine six to eight hours of loadshedding.