BAHAWALPUR, Dec 24: The Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) began unscheduled loadshedding from Saturday night, causing a great deal of inconvenience to the people.
Reports said citizens were facing power shutdown from minimum 30 minutes to over an hour at night in different areas.
Consumers, particularly traders, have demanded that the company should notify the shutdown schedule and fix duration of breakdown at least for two-week period so that people could chalk out their programmes accordingly.
When contacted, Mepco XEN Yousaf Mangi and SE Navid Anjum were not available. However, duty official at complaint centre told this correspondent that they suspended power supply after directions from higher authorities as they had not received any shutdown schedule so far.
IMEI SERVICE: The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) service was launched in collaboration with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) under the auspices of city circle police at a ceremony held at Rescue-15 here on Saturday.
The service will render snatched and stolen mobile sets useless.
In his inaugural remarks, DPO Arif Nawaz said local police were making efforts to curb crime and provide security and protection to the people by utilising technology. He stressed upon the need to create awareness among the general public to take advantage of the service.
He said all police stations here were being linked through computer system, which would help nab criminals.
The DPO also inaugurated Portrait Parley (criminals’ sketches) service at the Rescue-15 building.
Earlier, city ASP Zulfiqar Ali Mahar in his briefing said people should acquire secret number of their cell phone and immediately provide it to the police in case of theft or snatching.
Speaking on the occasion, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) president Chaudhry Abdul Jabbar announced provision of new computers, fax machines and printers to the police.
RELEASED: A team of judicial officers during a visit to the new central jail ordered release of 19 inmates involved in minor cases.