SUKKUR, Dec 5 Almost half of the city remained without electricity for many hours following the development of a major fault at the city grid station on Saturday.

Power supply to nearly 50 per cent of city areas was disrupted at 2pm and could not be restored by the evening when the report was filed. Electricity suspension affected five main feeders, including those of Shahi and Sarrafa Bazaars which cater to city centre and main markets. The breakdown brought the economic and business activities to a grinding halt.

An official at the city grid station attributed the power failure to some technical fault.

Executive Engineer of Grid Stations Organisation, Sukkur, Manzoor Ahmed Phulpoto said the development of a fault in the breaker of main transformer was the cause of massive breakdown. “Our team is trying to fix the faulty part as it could not be replaced due to lack of required accessories.”

Executive Engineer, Operation, Hesco, Sukkur, Ashfaq Bhatti said that if the power would be restored in another few hours.

Outlaws arrested Two alleged outlaws were killed in a police encounter in village Ali Sher Janwri in the Kandhra area on Saturday, said police sources.

The sources said that a heavy contingent of police had cordoned off village Ali Sher Janwri to arrest Shahmir Janwri and Abdul Qayoom Janwri. An encounter between police and criminals continued for an hour which resulted in the death of Shahmir Janwri and Abdul Qayoom Janwri, while their accomplices escaped, sources added.

Sources claimed that both deceased outlaws were involved in the killings of Patni Lashkar Union Council Nazim Ali Shaikh a year ago and in the double murder of Sajjid Buriro and Sada Hussain Buriro - gunned down by armed dacoits at Wah Buriro road near Kandhra three weeks ago.

On the other hand, sources in the area said that police conducted house to house search, arrested around 10 suspects and demolished three houses. An official at the Kandhra police station denied any arrest or demolishing of houses but confirmed the killing of two outlaws in an encounter.