Worst Blackout in North India in 10 Years

Bangalore: A major power failure caused a blackout in Northern India, the worst since 2001, and severely hit normal life in eight states since late Sunday night, following the collapse of the northern power grid.

The power that went out at early hours of Monday in New Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan affected the water supply and the industrial and domestic power supply.

Millions of people were affected due to the power failure. Around 300 trains, Rajdhani, Shatbadi and Duronto, were delayed due to the grid collapse.

After the near-complete blackout following a breakdown of the National Grid, power supply was restored to almost 80 percent areas in the national capital by noon, officials said.

A failure in the northern power grid at 2.32 a.m. affected power supply to seven northern states, including Delhi. Officials said the failure took place somewhere near Agra, tripping the entire system.

"Power supply has been restored in nearly 80 percent of Delhi," an official from Delhi power supplier BSES told IANS.

According to Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, nearly 60 percent of electricity supply had been restored and efforts to restore the power supply were on "on a war footing".

Northern Railways, Delhi Metro and other vital services such as water treatment plants were affected.

The power outage led to an acute water problem across Delhi with taps running dry. Delhi Metro services could be restored completely only after two hours (from 6 a.m. when it begins) at around 8.45 a.m. By 7 a.m., only 25 percent of the services had been restored.

(With IANS inputs)