Blackout : Power failure disrupts NA session

ISLAMABAD: Power shutdown, which affected a number of areas in the capital also disrupted proceedings of the National Assembly on Thursday at around 3:15 when voting was in progress on the bill to repeal the Equity Participation Fund Ordinance, 1970 [The Equity Participation Fund (Repeal) Bill, 2014. The blackout persisted for a while as the parliament’s power back-up system started work soon, lighting up corridors and turning the proceedings of the National Assembly on. National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ordered inquiry into the matter. Later Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif apprised the upper house that power supply to various areas including parliament house, Lahore and Gujranwala and Faisalabad was suddenly suspended due to tripping in power transmission line from Guddu at 3:15 pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd,  2016.