Now, separate grid for essential services

Essential services will have a separate power grid to make sure that no life is put in danger like on Tuesday when around 300 miners were caught inside a coal mine due to electricity failure, Veerappa Moily said after taking charge as Union power minister on Wednesday.

He said his ministry would work to make sure that incidents like that of Monday and Tuesday’s do not occur in the country again. “We are thinking of insulating the essential services from the normal grid failure. We will have to work on a separate grid for such services in the country,” he said.

The second grid failure within two days affected 62 crore people on Tuesday when half of the country went without power. The collapse of the three grids, including the northern, eastern and northeastern, was triggered due to over drawing of power by the states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. While power supply in the main cities of the 20 affected states was restored in five-six hours, it took more around 18 hours for the situation to get normal in other parts.

The new power minister has also called for a meeting with the chief ministers of all the affected states in the second week of August.

However, Moily also suggested that the states may not face any action for not maintaining the discipline on the grid.

When asked whether his ministry will have the courage to punish states that are found guilty of overdrawing, his reply was: “It is not about heroics of punishing states. We have to find a solution to the problem. States will have to be told that both the centre and the states suffer due to their indiscipline on the grid.”