Initial inquiry finds how major power breakdown in Pakistan could be averted

LAHORE: A major power breakdown two days back that plunged the country into darkness could have been avoided if necessary measures were taken by officials at the Guddu Power Plant, ARY NEWS reported quoting an initial inquiry.

According to sources having knowledge of the inquiry process, the additional plant manager at Guddu Power Plant did not shutdown the plant after the breakdown.

“The nation-wide power breakdown could have been avoided if the plant was shutdown on time,” they said.

The power division while commenting on the matter said that the seven employees at the Guddu power plant were suspended after the outage and were asked to submit their written response within 15 days.

“The future course of action against them will be decided in the light of their response,” the division said.

The federal government on Sunday formed a committee to probe into the massive power blackout that had hit parts of the country on late Saturday night.

Several parts of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, suffered a mass breakdown.

According to a notification issued, the Central Power Generation Company has suspended seven officials of Guddu Thermal Power Station on account of the negligence of duty which caused power failure across the country.

“Seven officials working under Plant Manager-III are hereby laced under suspension with immediate effect and until further orders, on account of the negligence of duty which caused power failure found in view of a preliminary inquiry,” reads the notification issued by Central Power Generation Company Limited.

The employees suspended in light of preliminary inquiry include Adl. Plant Manager Sohail Ahmed, Junior Engineer Deedar Channa, Foreman Ali Hassan Golo, Ayyaz Hussain Dahar Operator, Saeed Ahmed Operator, Attendants Siraj Ahmed Memom and Ilyas Ahmed.