Shinde blames states for overdrawing power
31 Jul 2012
Power minister Sushilkumar Shinde today blamed the states for overdrawing power that had led to the collapse of grids which had led to a black out across 22 states. He said the government was working to restore normalcy in about an hour.
"We are trying to restore the situation back to normalcy in one hour or so. We are trying our level best to restore it," Shinde told reporters in New Delhi as the country faced one of its worst power crisis for the second straight day.
This is said to be the first instance of simultaneous failure of three grids.
Power secretary P Uma Shankar told PTI that all essential loads had been brought back, and some of them had been restored.
In response to questions about reasons for the failure of grids, Shinde said some states were drawing electricity over and above their limits. "This was creating problems," he added.
"This morning only, I was told (by officials) that about 3,000 MW extra power has been over drawn from the eastern grid. We have given the direction to either stop it (overdrawal) or take action against them," the minister said.