The collapse has left more than half of
the country powerless. Essential
services and public transport systems,
including Railways and the Delhi
Metro were also hit.
"Grid incident occurred at 1300 hrs
affecting the northern grid, eastern
grid and north-eastern grid -- System
Under Restoration," National Load
Despatch Centre (NLDC), under the
Power Ministry, said in an update.
About 22 states and union territories
have been impacted by the failure of
the three grids. The northern grid
covers nine regions -- Punjab,
Haryana,
Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, J&K
and Chandigarh.
At least six states are covered by the
eastern grid. They are West Bengal,
Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa
and Sikkim. Meanwhile, the north
eastern grid connects Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam,
Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and
Tripura.
"We are busy with the revival right
now... Both the Northern and Eastern
grids have collapsed. Please allow us
to address the problem," V.K.
Agrawal, the general manager of the
northern grid, told AFP.
The government said the northern,
eastern and northeastern grids were
hit, wider than Monday's blackouts.
Delhi's metro system came to a halt
and office buildings ran on backup
generators a day after a 12-hour
blackout caused commuter chaos in
Delhi.
