SUKKUR, July 10: Seven districts of the upper Sindh plunged into darkness due to a power breakdown caused by a fault in the Guddu Thermal power house on Friday night.

The fault occurred in the power house's 132kv transmission line.

Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Ghotki, Larkana and Naushahro Feroze districts and their adjacent areas remained without electricity for several hours.

Power house officials told this correspondent that due to failure of the Liberty power plant, Daharki, all the load was put on the Guddu power house which resulted in the breakdown.

A partial power supply was restored after three hours from the Jamshoro power house through the national grid system.

Meanwhile, 20-hour load-shedding is being observed at the city grid station, Sukkur, which has added to miseries of people.

An official of the city grid station said the loadshedding was being observed as six control panels of the grid station were being replaced.

This correspondent tried to contact the chief engineer, Hesco, Sukkur, but he was not available.

However, the superintending engineer, Hesco, operation circle, Sukkur, Sadoro Shaikh, said the maintenance work at the city grid station was the reason for the loadshedding. He said the work would be completed by midnight.

CANALS PATROLLING: Six units of Shahbaz Rangers were sent to Khairpur district for round-the-clock checking of water distribution in command areas of the Khairpur feeder canal, Mirwah canal, Sindh Wah and B.S. feeder canal, reports APP.

Talking to newsmen on Saturday, the spokesman of the Shahbaz Rangers, Major Adnan said that Rangers would be deployed in all areas of Sukkur and Guddu barrages.

He said that meetings were held on Friday and Saturday with the chief engineer Sukkur barrage, Noor Mohammad Shah and SE Javed Taibani to identify such areas where water theft or its illegal trade existed.

He said that Rangers would try to plug loopholes which might be helping growers to steal water.

He said that some farmers were booked for stealing water in Khairpur and Jacobabad districts and they had been handed over to the police for litigation.

The spokesman said that Rangers' deployment would largely benefit farmers, especially those in tail-end areas, because they were the worst sufferers due to water shortage.

He claimed that growers had welcomed deployment of rangers and offered their cooperation.

The spokesman said that a long-term strategy was devised in the meeting with officials in the Shahbaz Rangers' headquarters.

He was confident that irrigation water supply system would return to normalcy after the deployment of rangers in a vast area.

Sukkur Barrage chief engineer Noor Mohammad Shah acknowledged Rangers' help in sustaining a judicious water supply system in the command area.

Mr Shah said that water shortage was natural and the area was experiencing water shortage of 15 to 20 per cent and water- rotation system was reintroduced for a rationalized supply to farmers.

He was also confident that water theft would gradually cease with the induction of Rangers in the Sindh irrigation department.