Title - Bengal shares in outage misery

The collapse of the eastern grid ~ simultaneously with the northern and north-eastern grids ~ saw power supply snapping all over the state in the afternoon bringing normal life to a standstill, including train services and even emergency services like hospitals, though CESC was able to keep vital services going, particularly, the city's lifeline, the Metro, despite a massive shortfall.   Following the grid collapse at 1:25 p.m. the state government declared a holiday at 3 p.m. to enable its  employees to return home early and ran 300 extra buses to make up for the disruption in train services though it was not enough to save commuters, particularly those from the suburbs from being severely inconvenienced as they waited at Howrah, Sealdah and other stations with no information forthcoming about when suburban trains would resume services.   “The state government is not responsible for what has happened. It is grid failure. It is a disaster and an emergency situation. We are monitoring the situation and running extra buses to enable people reach home. Please do not panic,” said chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee who monitored the situation along with senior officials of the administration.     The state government decided to provide incentives to transport employees who worked on double shifts to run the additional buses. The five government hospitals also went without power for almost an hour before supplies were restored but some surgeries were postponed.   By evening, power supply was restored in the districts of north Bengal as they mostly depend on hydel power. Power secretary Moloy De said efforts were on to restore power in the south Bengal districts. The five units of the Kolaghat Power Generation Station were yet to become functional. It would take some time to restore the functioning of the Santhaldihi unit, he added.    “It is expected that in the south Bengal districts, power will be restored up to 60 per cent by midnight, but the situation can be normal only after tomorrow morning,” said Mr Rajesh Pandey, managing director, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL). 

“Till 7.30 p.m. we managed to obtain around 450 MW from supplies from the hydel power projects based in the Hills and from two thermal unit at Bandel. In the next two hours another 600 MW will be available from one unit each at Kolaghat, Sagardighi and Farakka," said Mr Pandey. Train services were  limping back to normal  in the evening.   Immediately after the collapse of the eastern grid, Miss Banerjee held a meeting with power minister Manish Gupta and senior officials of the administration and took stock of situation. She said that it would take at least 10-12 hours to restore normal power supply while appealing to educational institutions and private companies to declare holiday enabling employees to reach home early.   Mr Gupta said the eastern grid collapsed soon after the failure of northern and north eastern grids. CESC too was partially affected since it draws 600 MW from the grid resulting in a shortfall in the city areas after evening. Mr Gupta blamed the Centre, saying the grid is completely maintained by the Eastern Region Load Dispatch Centre (ERLDC). He said the Centre's inquiry would reveal the reason behind the collapse of the eastern grid. Mr Gupta spoke to Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde and urged him to look into the matter and ensure power supply is restored.   Mr Gupta said the state government formed a committee comprising the officials of the Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation to monitor power crisis situation in CESC areas. Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the CESC were asked to coordinate so that civic authorities can run the pumps for supplying filtered water. 

A total of 105 trains including 25 long distance trains of three divisions ~ Sealdah, Howrah and Asansol ~ of Eastern Railway stopped en route around 1 p.m, while around 60 trains in Kharagpore, Adra, Chakradharpur and Ranchi division of South Eastern Railway had stopped due to the power disruption. Train services at Kalyani restored at 2.50 p.m. while services in Sealdah-Barasat, Howrah-Burdwan, Howrah main line, Bandle-Naihati and Seoraphuli-Tarakeswar sections and all divisions of South Eastern railways resumed in the evening. A few long distance trains including Up Himgiri Express, Up Doon Express and Howrah Digha Kandari Express were cancelled today.  

Some of the stranded long distance trains were hauled by diesel engines after clearing paths for them. “12314 Down Sealdah-bound Rajdhani Express, which was stopped at Belmuri station on Burdwan-Howrah chord line and 12024 Dn. Patna-Howrah Janshatabdi Express which was stopped at Dankuni station was brought to their destinations. The 12312 Dn Kalka-Howrah Mail and 12302 Dn Howrah-bound Rajdhani Express, detained at Sitarampur and Kulti stations respectively were taken to Asansol by diesel engines,” said Mr Samir Goswami, ER spokesperson. The 12313 Up Sealdah Rajdhani Express and 12301 Up Howrah-Rajdhani Express left Sealdah and Howrah stations at 5.40 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. respectively, hauled by diesel engines. Train services along Asansol Division resumed at 4.13 p.m. and beyond Chittaranjan at 7.15 p.m.