worst power breakdown plunged India into darkness
worst power breakdown brought life to standstill for 670 million Indians
World’s worst power breakdown plunged half of India into darkness with approximately 620 million people without electricity. Worst power breakdown of Indian history has put India, a nuclear power and an emerging economic power into an embarrassing situation. All this happened due to breakdown of numerous regional grids.
Life had come to a standstill position for at least 620 million people as trains stopped, traffic lights went out causing a chaotic situation at main urban centers. Nearly Two hundred mineworkers were trapped in deep channels in West Bengal when electric elevators stopped working. Rescue workers rushed with backup generators to save their lives.
Worst power breakdown of India caused electric furnaces in crematoria to shut down leaving the bodies half charred.
According to India’s power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, reason for the worst blackout is states drawing more than their allocated segment of electricity.
“Every state draws far more than their specified quotas from the power grid. We will penalise those provinces that transgress these limits and if they persist their power supplies would be cut”. Later on he was promoted as Home Minister of India Tuesday afternoon.
India is facing a deficit situation in its growing demand of electricity to keep economic growth intact. Deficits have deteriorated this year owing to poor monsoon rains. Fewer amounts of rains kept the electricity demand at higher level and caused reduction in hydropower generation.
Opposition parties of India used the worst power breakdown as an opportunity to rebuke Manmohan Singh government for the disaster.
“Nobody in government takes responsibility for such a disaster. It’s a complete policy paralysis and one that will impinge on India’s declining economic prospects” said Prakash Javdekar from opposition BJP.
Business leaders have also raised concerns over worst power breakdown of the history and feared that this could happen again. One fourth of Indian population is without access to electricity and further increase in supply-demand gap may trigger a similar or even worst disaster in the country which has very poor electricity infrastructure.
