Title - Grid failure: total blackout in 10 districts

The districts where supply was ‘restored’ witnessed voltage fluctuations till late in the evening Parts of Odisha faced a major power failure following crashing of eastern grid in the afternoon on Tuesday.

Although power supply was partially restored within two hours, several pockets including industrial region of Talcher-Angul had to reel under power crisis for hours.

“Following crashing of northern grid, the north-eastern and eastern grids collapsed on Tuesday. We first tried to hook to western grid immediately and restore power supply in parts of State capital,” said P. K. Das, Senior General Manager (Power System) at State Load Dispatch Centre here.

Mr. Das said most parts of the State experienced the sudden halt in power supply during the day. As many as 10 districts mainly in coastal region had complete power failure during the day. However, many western Odisha districts were unaffected by Tuesday’s blackout.

Speaking to reporters, P. K. Pradhan, Director (Commercial) of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL), said, “immediate partial restoration was possible due to generation of hydropower at Rengali, Burla and Indravati. Besides, thermal power production at Ib Thermal and Sterlite Industries at Jharsuguda saved the situation.”

By evening power engineers were struggling to normalise the power situation in Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Keonjhar, Angul and Bhadrak.

The districts where power supply was claimed to have been restored witnessed low voltage situations till late evening.

People had tough time in many parts of Cuttack as water could not be drawn due to unavailability of power.

“We are trying to restore power supply in all parts of the State by evening. We are in touch with central power managers to ensure that power supply becomes normal in the State,” said Mr. Pradhan.

As soon as the eastern grid crashed, about 13 express trains and five passenger trains were stranded en route.

“Due to power failure in eastern circle, train services in East Coast Railway jurisdiction were disrupted for about 90 minutes affecting movement of 13 mail express trains,” said East Coast Railway issuing a statement.

Trains that were affected by power failure included Puri-New Delhi Neelachal Express, Mysore-Howrah Express, Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma Express, Tirupathy-Santragachhi Express, Villupuram-Kharagpur Express, Dhauli Express and Pondichery-Bhubaneswar Express.

Train services were normalized on Palasa-Bhadrak section at 02.45 pm.