Power supply to the Lahore Cantonment Railway Station, Kasur Railway Station and railway colonies was disconnected on Monday after non-payment of outstanding dues. The signal system of Pakistan Railways (PR) at Lahore Division has become non-functional. The power disconnection resulted in a complete blackout for the train traffic and the PR signal staff was seen regulating the train traffic manually.
Train traffic from Lahore to the rest of the country suffered badly with delays escalating up to four hours. Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) officials told Pakistan Today that the Cantonment Railway Station had outstanding dues of Rs 1.6 million, while the railway colonies owed the power distributor over Rs 3 million in electricity bills over the last 13 months. Similarly, electricity to Kasur Railway Station and its adjoining railway colony was disconnected because of an outstanding electricity payment of Rs 1.2 million. The entire railway station, its offices, police station and a residential colony comprising about 150 houses drenched into complete darkness.
