North India goes powerless for 7 hours due to fog; supply restored

Many parts of northern India, mainly Punjab and Haryana, today plunged into dark in the wee hours, as the regional grid collapsed due to dense fog, and it took a long seven hours to resume the power supply.

Electricity was partially restored in some parts of Punjab and Srinagar by 7.30am after supply from Jalandhar, Nathpa Jhakri (Himachal Pradesh) and Uri sub-stations were diverted to these states. Normal supply in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir was restored by 10.30am, and it took a little longer in Punjab.

However, the situation was not as serious in the National capital region, as some precautionary measures were in place to deal with a fog-like situation.

Officials of Central transmission utility Power Grid Corporation said normalcy has been restored.

"All the stations in Punjab have been given start-ups (late in the afternoon), and they would commence resuming supply any time soon... system has come to normalcy," Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL) CMD SK Chaturvedi said.

The Northern Grid tripped at around 3.02am following a technical snag in transmission lines that reduced power to zero at many sub-stations in Punjab and Haryana. Transmission was disrupted, as moisture was deposited on lines due to thick fog, officials said.

The grid failure also led to disruption of supply to hydel and thermal power plants in the states. Supply in Ropar, Bathinda, Lehra Mohabbat power projects in Punjab and Yamuna Nagar and Panipat power stations in Haryana was disrupted.