BAHAWALPUR, Dec 14 The authorities concerned unleashed unscheduled gas and power loadshedding in the city and its suburbs on Monday.

The power outages ranged between four and six hours in different localities of the city, causing problems for people belonging to various walks of life. Housewives, schoolchildren and the traders suffered the most.

Mepco Executive Engineer (Operations) Iqbal Joya told Dawn it was not in his jurisdiction to change the schedule of the outages as Load Management Board, Islamabad, was responsible for these.

Besides, the management of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) also began unscheduled gas loadshedding in some of the city localities, including Cheema Town.

However, the SNGPL officials denied the company was responsible for the gas loadshedding, adding this could be some fault.

BVH In pursuance of a Punjab health department directive, the Bahawal Victoria Hospital administration has reserved 20 beds for any swine flu suspects.

Medical Superintendent Dr Altaf Malik told Dawn that four beds had been reserved in each of the four medical units and as many beds in the emergency ward of the hospital.

In addition, he said, the swine flue testing kits were now also available in the hospital.