New Delhi: Large parts of North India,
including Delhi, plunged back into darkness late Saturday night as
the regional electricity grid collased due to dense fog, hours
after it was restored, bringing to several trains in the
region to a standsill.
The Northern grid has again collapsed, leading to
disruption of power supply to all power plants in Punjab,
Haryana and Chandigarh, a senior official of Punjab State
Electricity Board said in Chandigarh.
He said it will take 6 to 7 hours to restore the power
supply.
Several parts of the national capital also went without
electricity late tonight--for the second time in a day--
following a major breakdown in the Northern grid.
A Delhi Transco official said the technical problem in
the grid occurred at around 10 PM resulting in massive
disruption of power supply.
"As of now, I can`t specify the areas affected by the
problem in the grid but many areas across the city faced power
cuts because of the technical problem in the grid," he said
adding a 440kv line was totally shut down because of the
failure.
Several long-distance trains, which left Delhi after
9.45pm, were stranded in nearby areas due to lack of power
supply, said railway sources.
Reports of power supply breakdown also came in from
Jammu and Srinagar.
Heavy fog reduced visibility sharply halting vehicular
traffic movement on the streets of Delhi and other places in
the region as drivers chose to stop their vehicles on
roadsides.
Earlier in the day, the fog led to the collapse of the
the northern grid snapping power supply to vast tracts of
north India, including Delhi, in the wee hours.
However, power supply had been restored to normalcy by
the evening before the second grid breakdown occured late in
the night.
PTI
