Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) on Thursday formed a high-level inquiry committee to gauge facts relating to the power outage impacting southern areas of the country.

According to the statement issued by the National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC), the committee will be headed by Muhammad Mustafa — Lahore general manager (technical) — and comprise Anwar Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Ijaz Khan, and Muhammad Zakar.

It stated that the committee will be required to determine the root cause of the default, ascertain if the faults leading to the blackout could have been prevented, verify if measures taken by concerned departments were adequate and fix responsibility on the person(s) involved in case any negligence is observed.

The committee will be required to submit a report within four days, the notification added.

A major power breakdown was reported in southern parts of Pakistan, including Karachi, with Ministry of Energy attributing the major power breakdown to an “accidental fault” in the transmission system.

“Multiple power plants in south are tripping due to an accidental fault in the country’s southern transmission system, disrupting the supply of electricity to the country’s southern part,” the energy ministry said in a tweet.

Earlier, K-Electric spokesperson Imran Rana – in a Tweet – noted that the utility had received reports of multiple outages from different parts of Karachi. “We are investigating the issue and will keep this space posted,” he said.

Later, he confirmed that the power outage was due to a fault in the southern transmission system. He added that work had been started to restore the supply and the complete restoration would take around five hours.