AFGHANISTAN. Kabul: From months, the Afghan electricity distributor company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) has been suffering from the destruction of its power pylons outside of major cities like Kabul and Herat. The company said that 23 electricity pylons have been destroyed by explosions in just one month.
The Afghan capital Kabul has been hit majorly in recent weeks with the government saying it couldn’t arrest anyone in connection with the cases of pylons explosions.
According to the Breshna company, 19 power pylons were destroyed in the north of Kabul in the past 40 days. Two other power pylons were destroyed in Herat this week.
Three power pylons were damaged by explosions over the last day–two in Salang district, Parwan province, and one in Herat province, disrupting the imported power supply from Uzbekistan and Iran in the two provinces.
The damage to power pylons in the Salang district disrupted the electricity supply to Kabul and seven other provinces.
“The explosion was powerful–it shook homes. Other explosions happened shortly after the first one. Up to five blasts happened,” Noor-ul-Haq, a resident of Salang told TOLO News.
The company in Herat said that the repairing of the facilities has been halted due to higher security issues.
Two power facilities have been damaged outside of Herat that deprived 60 percent of Herat citizens of power,” the Herat (DABS) company said.
According to the company, the repair of damaged pylons takes days to connect power to the city.
“There has been done nothing for the repair of damaged pylons of Iran imported electricity yet. Because the Kamana area of Ghorian district is still under the Taliban group control,” Herat DABS said.
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The company in Herat said that they were trying to provide power for some limited hours during the day for some parts of the city from Salma dam
“Overall, the pylons that have been destroyed or damaged are 25 in total,” Engineer Ahad, a DABS employee told TOLO News.
Other pylons have been either damaged or destroyed in the Kalakan, Shakardara, and Qara Bagh districts of Kabul. Daesh claimed responsibility for destroying the towers.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has denied any involvement in these cases.
Speaking to Hasht-E-Subh newspaper at the condition of anonymity, one man said that some Jihadi commanders and some “powerful people in the north of Afghanistan had hands in the destruction of these power facilities. He added that they wanted to pressure the government with these destructions.
Another source told Hasht-E-Subh newspaper that a “Mafia group” threatened the DABS months before with a phone call, asking for 3.5 million. Otherwise, they would continue the destruction of the power pylons.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s national security and the Security Council also received the same threats.
