ISLAMABAD: The country witnessed another major power breakdown on Thursday that left Islamabad and several areas in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir without electricity for hours. An official of the Ministry of Water and Power said that a fault in the 500KV transmission line at the Guddu power plant caused breakdown of Mangla, Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha power stations. The power breakdown also affected the proceedings of the National Assembly. The lower house of the parliament plunged into darkness during a debate. Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told the house that efforts were under way to restore power supply to parts of the country. Earlier on Thursday, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali informed the National Assembly that the Dasu Dam project would be executed in the next few months. The minister said the World Bank had approved the financing for Stage-I of the Dasu project. He informed the house that work on Munda Dam would be started by the end of this year. He said the dam was under study and its engineering design, PC-I and tender documents were being prepared. Later, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Water and Power said that power supply to most areas was restored within three hours of the breakdown. “Power supply to 90 percent of the affected areas has been restored and maximum power grids have energized and now load is increasing,” Zafaryab Khan said.