• Login
  • Home
  • Pakistan
  • International News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Pakistan
  • International News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Times of Pakistan
No Result
View All Result
Home International News India

Powerless and clueless: 684 million Indians without power

ToP by ToP
August 1, 2012
in India, International News
0
684 million Indians without power

684 million Indians without power

0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
684 million Indians without power

NEW DELHI: It was a Terrible Tuesday that 684 million Indians are not going to forget in a hurry. In the world’s biggest blackout that affected one-tenth of the global population, 21 states and Union Territories went on the blink after three arterial power lines collapsed at 1 pm.

The northern, eastern and north-eastern regions suffered the outage when their respective grids collapsed in quick succession with devastating effect. The blackout disrupted normal life, rail and air services as well as industrial production across sectors.Even as the country was reeling under the outage, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was moved out to the home ministry, and Veerappan Moily given the additional charge of power – a move that hardly indicated seriousness on the government’s part in dealing with the crisis.

Some 300 miners were trapped in coal mines. Two hundred miners were evacuated from mines in Bengal. Efforts were still on till the time of reporting to rescue 65 others stuck in Jharkhand mines.More than 300 trains were affected. Many others are likely to be cancelled. Airports, hospitals and BPOs functioned with their back-up generators. In Delhi, once again commuters had a harrowing time, and a scary one for those who were stuck in the Metro Rail trains that stopped in their tracks several feet above the street or deep inside tunnels. Roads were gridlocked as traffic lights stopped working.

In Kolkata, the metro was not hit by the outage, but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked all government offices to shut early and urged the private sector and schools to do the same to protect against commuter chaos in the evening. The Metro was not affected as the city largely remained isolated since power is supplied by a private firm.Tuesday’s grid collapse, like Monday’s, was triggered at Agra, a major interconnect between the northern, western and eastern grids. On Monday, the Agra relay station had tripped to trigger a blackout. This time too, the station kicked off a domino effect after suspected overdrawal by some states in the eastern grid. Within a fraction of a second of the Agra station tripping, the northern, eastern and the north-eastern grids went down.

At the time, the three grids together were carrying some 66,000 MW, 12 times Delhi’s demand. The tripping immediately shut down some 14,000 MW of generation capacity of state-run utility NTPC.Who triggered the collapse? Fingers were pointed at Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab for overdrawing power. All three states stoutly denied the charge. PowerGrid chairman A M Nayak could not give a reason for Tuesday’s grid collapse. “I am a technical person and it will be unfair on my part to suggest a reason without fully understanding and analysing the sequence of events that led to the problem.”

He said the complex grid network and the increasing interconnectivity increases the vulnerability of the system. “It is difficult to point a finger at something quickly in a complex grid. Things happen in milliseconds. We have the data from some 100 critical sub-stations. Only after a proper analysis and reconstruction will we be able to identify the reason.”Some 5,000 MW in the northern grid was restored by 4pm, or three hours after the outage. The grid was carrying 32,400 MW when it tripped. Similarly, 2,000 MW was restored in the eastern grid (12,000 MW) and 500 MW in the north-eastern grid (1,100 MW).

The northern grid was carrying 22,000 MW, or 80% of its load by 7.30pm. The eastern grid carried a load of 4,400 MW, or 40% of its usual load of 12,000 MW. The northeastern grid was operating at near-full capacity of 1,200 MW.But without naming any state, Nayak indirectly pointed that overdrawal could be causing the collapse. “Some sections (of the grid, an indirect reference to states) are creating problem by overdrawing. The grid system is dynamic and not static. There are several parameters…voltage, frequency etc. These keep changing. Small over or under-drawal will be here and there. I can’t say it will stop.”But Nayak’s words did not cut much ice with UP, Punjab and Haryana – the states that had been blamed for tripping the northern grid by overdrawing power on Monday. All three denied the allegation. – TOI

Tags: 684 million Indians without powerUnion Territories
Previous Post

Visa scam: Asad challenges Rehman Malik’s claim

Next Post

Barack Obama tightens sanctions on banks helping Iran sell oil

ToP

ToP

Related Posts

Pakistani Citizens Sudan
Pakistan

Over 1,000 Pakistani Citizens Rescued from Sudan as Evacuation Operation Ends

by Jameel Ahmad
May 2, 2023
Mullah Muhammad Daud Muzamil
International News

Governor of Afghanistan’s Balkh province killed in suicide attack

by Jameel Ahmad
March 9, 2023
Quake toll at Turkiye-Syria over 9,600 deaths
International News

Quake toll at Turkiye-Syria over 9,600 deaths

by Jameel Ahmad
February 8, 2023
Pakistan has Given us Nothing but Lies and Deceit: Donald Trump
International News

The greatest threat to the US is neither Donald Trump nor MAGA

by Khawaja Pervaiz Seed
January 2, 2023
Khar stresses sustained international engagement with Afghan interim government
International News

Khar stresses sustained international engagement with Afghan interim government

by Jameel Ahmad
November 10, 2022
Pak, China FO spokespersons hold dialogue
International News

Pak, China FO spokespersons hold dialogue

by Jameel Ahmad
October 11, 2022
Pakistan warns of threat to South Asia’s peace by India’s ‘aggressive and expansionist’ regime
International News

Pakistan warns of threat to South Asia’s peace by India’s ‘aggressive and expansionist’ regime

by Jameel Ahmad
October 5, 2022
Next Post
Barack Obama tightens sanctions on banks helping Iran sell oil

Barack Obama tightens sanctions on banks helping Iran sell oil

Popular Stories

  • Hyacinth Macaw images

    10 Most Expensive Pets, Unusual Choices

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Forced Child Beggars: Future of Pakistan in Danger

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • My friend, the governor

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trailer for controversial Osama bin Laden film ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ released

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Governor of Afghanistan’s Balkh province killed in suicide attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Times of Pakistan

About Times Of Pakistan

kralbetbetturkeyikimislibahis1xbetm.infohipas.infohttps://www.wiibet.com/restbetcdn.com

Other Categories

  • Beautiful Pakistan
  • Fashion News
  • Funny News
  • Viral Videos
  • Weird News

Recent Posts

  • PML-N Describes NAB Legislation as “Detrimental” to Pakistan
  • Journalist Imran Riaz Khan Safely Returns Home After Four-Month Absence
  • IMF rejects interim govt’s power bill relief plan

Times Of Pakistan © 2021. Design & Developed by E2E Solution Providers.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Pakistan
  • International News
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In