Parts of Capital plunges into darkness, discoms on high alert

NEW DELHI: Sunday’s dust and thunderstorm in Delhi plunged the city into darkness, with a few places recording power cuts for up to five hours.

Areas across the national Capital faced electricity outages ranging from a few minutes to several hours even as the city’s peak demand reached 5,344MW on Sunday. Discom officials said the outages occurred due to breakdown in feeder lines and trees and other objects falling over power cables. In congested residential areas, electricity supply was disconnected during peak of the storm as a safety measure.

Power supply in areas like Narela, Bawana and pockets of Moti Nagar were affected due to falling of trees on electricity lines, a spokesperson of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) said. The discom supplies power to north and north west Delhi areas. “The situation was brought under control by 9pm after the wind and rain reduced,” the official said.

In south Delhi, Defence Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Chhatarpur, Vasant Kunj, Mehrauli and Gulmohar Park were some areas which faced outages. Areas which faced outages for several hours include parts of Najafgarh, Vikaspuri, Jaffarpur, Seemalpur, Shastri Park and Trilokpuri. East and west Delhi areas like Mayur Vihar, Vivek Vihar and Paschim Vihar also went dark for an hour or two.

The BSES said its operations and maintenance teams were on a high alert to take care of any contingency and in most cases, they were able to restore supply quickly. “In some instances, it took a little longer than usual for factors beyond our control. Consumer safety is paramount for us and we urge them to stay clear of electricity installations and overhead wires in event of a storm,” it said.