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Major power breakdown in western India

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) chairman R P Singh told PTI in New Delhi that power supply was being restored in phases in parts of the five states, particularly for essential services, and full normalcy is likely to be restored by Wednesday morning.

As against the total requirement of 20,000 MW for the entire region, the PGCIL has already started supplying 3,000 MW, he said.

Singh said the grid collapse occurred at 2011 hours IST due to excess withdrawal of power by Madhya Pradesh and, barring the island city of Mumbai, all places in the five states were plunged into darkness for several hours.

Services of the Western and Central railways were severely affected with several long-distance trains stranded near Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, including Nagpur, Jabalpur, Pune and Bhusawal.

According to a Western Railway spokesperson, the Lok Shakti Express has been held up near Borivli while the Jaipur-bound Superfast Express is stranded near Vaitarna.

The Saurashtra Mail was held up near Goregaon and the Mumbai-Indore Avantika Express is awaiting clearance near Virar.

The departure of the Golden Temple Express has been delayed, he added.

According to a report from Bhopal, train services and emergency services in hospitals were affected due to the power failure.

A railways ministry spokesman said in New Delhi that train movement has been stalled in the three divisions of the Western Railway - Baroda, Ratlam and Bombay - and four divisions of the Central Railway - Bombay, Bhusawal, Bhopal and Jhansi.

Train movement is likely to be restored by 0100 IST, he added.

The entire Gujarat also suffered a blackout with reports of stray incidents of communal violence from in Shahpur locality of Ahmedabad where two crude bombs went off near a place of worship and three persons, including two policemen, were injured in heavy stone-pelting.

Reports from Bhopal and Raipur said the entire Chhattisgarh state, including Bhilai, which houses a major steel plant, was suffering a blackout.

"At 1945 hours IST, Madhya Pradesh drew an extra 500 MW. We disconnected four of their lines at Itarsi and Beena. Despite this, they were drawing an extra 300 MW," R P Singh said, adding the excess withdrawal brought down the grid frequency to a low of 47.8 hertz (hz) triggering the collapse.

Meanwhile, power supply was restored in Ahmedabad city at around 2300 IST.

The Gujarat Electricity Board managed to fire the two thermal units at Vanakburi and Ukai with the help of auxiliary power to help restore electricity.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government blamed neighbouring Madhya Pradesh for drawing excess power from the western grid, plunging five states of the region into darkness.

"The Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) has made arrangement to draw 50 MW power from Andhra Pradesh's Ramagundam project," Energy Minister Padmasinh Patil told PTI in Mumbai.

He said normalcy would be restored by Wednesday morning, as it would take at least 8-9 hours to resort full supply throughout the state.

The MSEB has commenced generation at its Koyna hydro power plant, which has begun supplying 70 MW of power for start-up of its thermal stations located in Parli, Nasik and Bhusawal, the minister said.

With power from Ramagundam, MSEB will fire all its five units, which would generate the 2,000 MW required to bridge the state's shortfall.

Sources said that Maharashtra is entitled to 2,185 MW from NTPC, of which the latter supplies 1,200 MW, MP is entitled to 1,000 MW, Goa to 70 MW and Gujarat to 750 MW.

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