Title - Mining, railways hit hard in Jharkhand due to power failure

Mining and railway services were hit hard in Jharkhand due to unprecedented tripping in the Eastern Grid Tuesday. Major mining companies - BCCL and CCL - have also halted coal production due to the power failure.

"More than 20 trains have been stranded at different places in our division. We are trying to bring the trains to Dhanbad station by diesel engines," an official of Dhanbad railway division told IANS over telephone.

The trains are stranded at Ranchi, Dhanbad, Bokaro and other places of the state.

"For the first time we are witnessing such a situation that trains are stranded due to power problem," said Kanti, a passenger at Ranchi railway station.

According to authorities, the railway services are likely to resume by late evening.

The mining activities have got halted in Central Coalfields Limited (CCL). "The mining activities have been halted due to power failure. No coal production has taken place in second shift. The coal production will resume only after power is resorted," Deepak Kumar, public relation officer (PRO) of CCL told IANS.

The CCL in three shifts produces around 1.25 to 1.45 lakh tonnes coal a day. In four hours, according to sources in CCL it has suffered a loss of 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of coal production.

The mining has also been affected in Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).

According to Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) chairman S.N. Verma, 50 megawatts (MW) of power has been arranged from Bhutan and efforts were on to generate power from state-owned power units.