Veerappa Moily for early resolution of power crisis

New Delhi, July 31 (ANI): Union Corporate Affairs Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, who has been given the additional charge of the Power Ministry, on Tuesday called for a dialogue between the Centre and various state governments to solve the ongoing power crisis.

Dr. Moily said the problem could only be solved with proper consultation and collaboration.

"I don't think one can have blame game between the states and the Centre. Centre blaming the states and states blaming the Centre, I don't think the problem could be solved on that. I think it has to be done with proper consultation and collaboration. I think if all states and also the Centre join together to resolve the problem with a single mind, it is possible," he said.

Blaming overdraw of power by certain states for the current crisis, the outgoing Power Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, earlier today said the government is working to bring back normalcy.

"The states which have been using more electricity than their allotted quota, we will take legal action against them," he said.

Shinde said the government has promptly addressed the power crisis.

"We have promptly addressed the crisis and restored around 45 percent electricity in the northern region while in eastern region 35 percent situation has been brought under control. In northeastern region, 100 percent normalcy has been restored. And in Delhi, the latest reports suggest that 2000 mega watt electricity has been restored," he said.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government and two other states - Rajasthan and Haryana-to explain the overdrawing of power and for blatantly flouting of norms governing access to electricity/power supply, which led to grid failures in the northern and eastern parts of India.

The Uttar Pradesh Government and the Punjab Government, however, rubbished the Centre's claims that the grid failure was because of overdrafts by their states.

Grids in the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions failed at 1300 hrs on Tuesday, causing power crisis for nearly half of the country's population spread across 22 states and union territories.

The second blackout in two days affected as many as 20 states in north, east and northeast India, paralysing rail and metro operations, and causing major traffic snarls.

Some of the states affected included Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

These states account for half of India's 1.2 billion population, or 600 million.

The Delhi Metro, which covers 70,000 kilometers every day and carries 1.8 million passengers, suspended service on all the six lines after the failure of the grids. Latest reports said that services have been resumed partially.

New Delhi and several other cities faced traffic snarls, as traffic signals tripped and caused major snarls at intersections.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Power Grid Corp of India , R.N. Nayak, said close to 50 percent of power had been restored in the northeastern region and 20 percent in the north.

He said a full inquiry would reveal the nature of the problem. He added that every effort was being made restore supplies fully by 7-7.30 p.m.

On Monday, seven states in the northern region saw power trip off at 2.32 a.m. due to a major breakdown in the Northern Grid - an interconnected transmission network that delivers electricity from various power generating stations to distribution utilities.

The last time such a crisis took place was in 2001, when it took 16 hours to restore normalcy. (ANI)