HYDERABAD: Fire broke out in Jamshoro Power Company Limited (JPCL), commonly known as Jamshoro thermal powerhouse, on Wednesday morning which caused considerable damage to control room, adjacent areas and cables.

The JPCL CBA union leaders claimed the fire incident was preplanned and blamed the company’s management for the incident.

Information gathered from serving and some former staff members of the powerhouse revealed that the fire broke out in direct current (DC) ‘battery banks’ which then travelled to joint control room of Unit-I and Unit-II. The Unit-I is Japanese unit while Unit-II is Chinese unit.

Sources said that the fire had damaged entire cable system and all ignitable material in turbine and other machinery. Extensive damage was reported in the control room, they said.

JPCL chief executive officer Mohammad Abdul Wakeel said: “No serious damage has been caused. The fire broke out in DC battery system due to short circuit. The damage can’t be assessed right now. Since the cooling period is under way the damage can be assessed afterwards,” he told Dawn over phone.

CEO plays down damage but CBA claims losses from the ‘preplanned’ fire may run into billions of rupees

He clarified that cables were burnt while turbine, boiler and other auxiliaries remained safe. “There is still smoke inside so no one can go in,” he said and added that no casualty was reported.

Fire tenders of the powerhouse could not reach the affected spot, hence fire tenders were called from Hyderabad, Rescue 1122 as well as army and other nearby locations to extinguish the fire. They reached the site after around four hours of eruption of fire at 8am.

The fire could not be brought under control till 7.40pm, according to a source. There was complete darkness in the powerhouse, located off Indus Highway, he said.

According to a text sent by an insider, the fire erupted in the morning in DC battery bank area of Unit-1 which travelled to all adjacent areas including control room No1 and 22.

The JPCL, which had been lying closed for last two and a half years, had produced power around 2022 when Unit-I and IV were made functional.

The officials linked to the powerhouse told Dawn on condition of anonymity that around 7,000 tonnes of oil was available in the powerhouse but it was not being used for power generation.

JPCL receives around Rs148m for Unit-I and II as capacity charges which are meant for meeting salary and non-salary expenditures from authorities concerned, which will now be stopped in view of this incident, according to a former official. “Central Power Purchase Agency-G will now penalise JPCL as well,” he said.

JPCL managers had then claimed that they were on ‘stand by’ by authorities concerned. Lakhra coal powerhouse also remained closed remained since 2017 when one of its three units had also been damaged by fire on July 20, 2017.

Installed capacity of Japanese unit-I was 250MW and of unit-II of 210MW. The Unit-I’s capacity was reduced to 210MW as it had last worked up to 180MW and remained on standby on the ground that fuel’s cost had risen.

Losses from fire may run into billions: CBA

The All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union (CBA) head Abdul Latif Nizamani claimed that losses to the equipment might be around billions of rupees as the entire plant had been burnt.

JPCL union leaders blamed the management for the incident without mincing words. “It is a conspiracy against the entity as the CEO doesn’t want to run the powerhouse,” said the union’s regional chairman Noor Ahmed Soomro, while speaking at a press conference. He spoke to Dawn separately and reiterated his claims, saying the losses might run into billions of rupees.

The union leaders have held the CEO directly responsible for the incident. “The fire has destroyed the closed powerhouse [JPCL],” said Soomro, adding the new CEO was hired for Rs1.6m salary in addition to perks and privileges but he was not paying attention to running the powerhouse.

At a hurriedly called press conference at local press club on Wednesday evening the JPCL CBA leaders Noor Soomro, Samiullah, Abdul Jabbar Jamali and others said that major damage was reported in the powerhouse due to the fire. “It is a preplanned incident,” as the powerhouse’s own firefighting equipment and vehicles were lying idle, they said.

They said that present CEO Abdul Wakeel took over the charge on Nov 23, 2023, but he did not take necessary measures for the maintenance of the powerhouse which was an asset of people of Pakistan.

They urged federal energy minister Awais Leghari to order an impartial inquiry into the incident and fix responsibility. This CEO was appointed to lay off employees, they said and held the CEO responsible for the incident.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2024