KABUL (SW): Authorities at Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS), the main electricity distribution company in Afghanistan, has said that the damage inflicted upon a main transmission line in Baghlan province has inflicted heavy financial losses to them.
Last week, fighting between the Taliban rebels and the government forces led to the uprooting of a high voltage electrical power transmission line tower that was transferring electricity from Uzbekistan to Kabul. DABS has noted that each kilowatt of electricity was now costing them afn 32 but the residents pay afn 2 for the each kilowatt.
Wahid Tawhidi, Director Communication at DABS told Salam Watandar that they have been using alternative sources to supply electricity that require 55 thousand litters of fuel a night.
According to the government authorities, five days ago the Taliban blew the tower during fighting with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in Dand-e-Shahab of Baghlan province. The Taliban however, have announced that the tower got damaged due to the shelling by the ANSF.
It is worth mentioning that the residence of Kabul now have only four hours of electricity in 24 hours.
The security officials said on Thursday that the area around the damaged transmission tower is under the control of ANSF and they would clean-up landmines near the damaged line in a bid to pave way for restoration of power. The DABS officials have also promised that they would restore the damaged transmission.
However, the authorities at DABS have mentioned that the ANSF did not allow them to enter the area because of security concerns. The ANSF have started a clean-up operation in Dand-e-Ghori under the name of “Khorshid 20”. According to Murad Ali Murad, Deputy chief of staff of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and commander of the operation, 37 Taliban rebels have been killed and 21 other wounded in this operation so far.
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