Islamabad, January 23 (BNA): Pakistan suffered a nationwide power outage Monday morning due to a “major breakdown” in the national grid, the Electricity Ministry said, with factories, hospitals and schools affected in all its major cities.
Electricity Minister Khurum Dastagir added that the collapse began at 7:34 am (0234 GMT) when there was a fluctuation in the electrical voltage in the network between the cities of Jamsuru and Dadu in the southern province of Sindh.
“There was a fluctuation in the voltages and the systems were shut down one by one. This is not a big crisis,” Dastagir told Geo TV news channel. Reuters news agency reported that power outages were reported in the southern port city of Karachi, the capital Islamabad, the eastern city of Lahore and Peshawar in the north.
Mohammad Asim, spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, the largest hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa state, said back-up generators were used to provide uninterrupted electricity to the emergency department, intensive care units and laboratories.
The Ministry of Electricity issued a statement saying that work is underway to revive the system, and the minister said that electricity has been restored in some parts of the country.
Pakistan has enough installed capacity to meet demand, especially in winter, when it often has a surplus. But the country lacks the resources to operate its oil and gas stations, the sector is heavily indebted, and insufficient investment in infrastructure and power lines has repeatedly disrupted the national grid.
FKN