SAHIWAL, Jan 5: About 400 telephones turned mute here on Tuesday night as some unidentified thieves took away the underground PTCL cable near Mission Chowk. Reports said most of the affected phones were installed in Fateh Sher Colony and Girls College Road.

Despite a lapse of 36 hours, the PTCL authorities concerned had failed to fix the cable. This is fifth such incident in the recent past in which PTCL cable has been stolen. Police have failed to trace all previous thefts.

The subscribers have demanded the PTCL high-ups should provide lids for the cable main holes to safeguard its underground network.

They also demanded action against the PTCL officials concerned for their failure to check the repeated cable thefts resulting in inconvenience to the subscribers.

POWER WIRE THEFT: At least two villages and their surrounding ares plunged into darkness as thieves took away electricity supply wire near Chak 69/4-R on Wednesday night.

The power supply to the villages, Chak 69/4-3 and 70/4-R, and their surrounding areas could not be restored by Mepco staff till the filing of this report.

Mepco Operation Manager Abdul Ghafoor told journalists as many as 31 such incidents occurred in Sahiwal in which wire worth millions of rupees had been stolen. He said a majority of wire thefts occurred in Noorshah area.