ISLAMABAD: The National Power Control Centre (NPCC) has suspended several officials over an operational mishap, which occurred due to a miscommunication and a faulty procedure during a substation operation, Newzshewz has reliably learned.
According to one of the suspended officials — the Assistant General Manager (Operations) — he is not responsible for the incident, and claims that the error occurred during a shutdown on the 220 kV Bus Bar-II, which was availed by the Extra High Voltage (EHV) Department of the National Grid Corporation of Pakistan (NGCP). The permit-to-work (PTW) was issued on April 17, 2025, and after its cancellation, a back-closing operation was carried out at approximately 18:45 hrs — about an hour earlier than the scheduled time of 20:00 hrs.
The premature operation led to a permanent fault, allegedly caused by a Substation Attendant (SSA), who later admitted his negligence during the inquiry.
The NPCC initiated an inquiry on April 18, 2025. The suspension orders for the shift officials were issued on April 22, and the Assistant General Manager (Operations) was formally suspended via an office order dated May 9, 2025.
Statements from the Deputy Manager, Assistant Managers (Operations and Shift), Substation Operators I and II (SSO-I, II), and the SSA were recorded during the inquiry. The SSA accepted responsibility in writing.
However, the suspended Assistant General Manager (Operations) argues that the core issue stemmed from the Protection and Instrumentation (P&I) section, which had taken a Special Protection Tag for testing a flicker relay on April 17 without logging the activity in the message register, as required. He claims that the protection section’s failure to communicate the activity left the shift uninformed, resulting in the SSA’s confusion and subsequent wrong operation.
He further maintains that he was neither on duty at the critical time (1800–2000 hrs) nor linked with the shift in question, which was under the supervision of an Assistant Engineer (Shift). The engineer admitted during the inquiry that he did not communicate with either the Deputy Manager or Assistant Manager (Operations) at the time.
The Assistant General Manager emphasized that no second inquiry has been launched nor has the original inquiry been declared incomplete or flawed. He also submitted formal requests through proper channels seeking clarification of his role and assessment of any attributed damages.
Terming the allegations against him baseless, he requested senior authorities to exonerate him, insisting that there is no legal or factual justification to hold him responsible for the incident. Ends
