ISLAMABAD    -    The Inquiry Commit­tee, probing the Octo­ber 13 power break­down in the country, has held NTDC respon­sible saying that the use of dilapidated equip­ments and sub-stan­dard work on towers connecting transmis­sion line with Karachi’s nuclear power plants K-2 & K-3 caused the black­out. The National Transmis­sion and Despatch Compa­ny’s inquiry committee in its report yesterday determined the reasons behind the black­out and the Ministry of Ener­gy is taking immediate disci­plinary action in the light of the report, said a spokesman of the Power Division here. On October 13, the NTDC transmission system was hit by blackout disrupting elec­tricity supply to major areas of Pakistan including Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab for almost the entire day. It took the power authorities several hours to restore the transmis­sion system across Pakistan. Following the breakdown, the NTDC formed a commit­tee to probe the reasons be­hind the partial blackout. A four-member committee was formed with NDTC’s Gener­al Manager (Technical) La­hore Muhammad Mustafa as its convener, while General, Manager (AM) North Lahore Anwar Ahmed Khan, Chief Engineer (TSG) North Lahore Muhammad Ijaz Khan, and Chief Engineer (OP) NPCC Is­lamabad Muhammad Zakaria were its members. According to the findings of the Inqui­ry Committee, the first rea­son for the blackout was the nondurable and sub-standard work done on Tower No 26 of NTDC transmission line con­necting with Karachi’s nucle­ar power plants K-2 and K-3 three years ago in 2019. The failure of the delivery system calls into question the qual­ity of the equipments used in 2019 and the efficiency of the workers. The connec­tors used on it were not made for the transmission line but were modified and used for this temporary interconnec­tion. The project team used 25-year-old dilapidated con­ductors in 2019 at Tower No. 26, 26-A and 27, the inquiry committee said. Despite the sensitivity of nuclear power plants the transmission line was not regularly repaired and maintained as per the prescribed standards, the In­quiry report added.