How order was restored after chaos

The Delhi Metro was the first to get electricity after power supply was restored in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

The Delhi Metro was the first to get electricity after power supply was restored in Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

HT Image

More than thousand commuters had a harrowing time when eight metro trains were stuck in various underground stretches when power went off due to the grid failure at 1.02pm.

The power department first provided supply to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to ensure metro services were restored as lakhs of commuters use these trains during peak hours.

While Metro was provided electricity through gas turbine plants on a priority basis round 2.30pm, hospitals were next to get power followed by water plants. VIP areas under the jurisdiction of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) got power around 4.30pm.

Among residential colonies, east Delhi was the first to get power followed by north, south and west Delhi.

While Monday's grid failure took place due to over-drawing by neighbouring states, officials said Tuesday's grid failure happened because of a technical fault.

"Power supply in Delhi was disrupted due to major grid disturbance in Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions of power Grid. The disturbance occurred at 13.02pm. Before the grid collapsed, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan were drawing more than their allocated power to the tune of 600MW, 950MW and 750MW, respectively. However, system frequency was normal when the grid collapsed," said a senior power department official.

According to officials, initially all the power stations in Delhi tripped. However, Delhi's system was quick to get back on its feet as some units of the Gas Turbine Power Station was still functioning.