Power crisis again: Northern, Eastern grids fail

The Northern and Eastern Grids tripped today, leading to power failure in several states of the country affecting hundreds of millions of people.

While the Northern Grid collapsed for the second time in two days, the Eastern transmission lines too failed in the afternoon, said officials at the Power Ministry and electricity companies.

Power supply was disrupted in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam and Punjab, among other states.

“Yes, I've heard that the Northern and Eastern grids have failed. We are looking into the matter. We are inquiring,” Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said.

The power crisis led to immediate shut-down of Delhi Metro lines in the national capital, while a host of other services including Railways were also affected.

“We are again having problems in Northern Grid,” K Soonee, CEO of Power System Operating Co (PSOC) said.

Power Ministry officials said Eastern Grid has also failed. The reasons for the grid failure were not immediately known.

While an almost 15-hour power crisis was seen in the Northern part yesterday, the crisis today reached the Eastern region as well.

Delhi government officials said the Northern Grid failed around 1.30 pm, when the national capital had a demand of around 4,000 MW. Only 38 MW was being supplied around 1.45 pm.

Again, Blackout. 12 states affected

New Delhi: Power supply to as many as 12 states has been disrupted after the Northern and Eastern supply grids failed. The crisis was allegedly triggered after states like Rajasthan and UP drew much more than their assigned share of power. Sources say UP and Haryana over-drew by 1200 MW each, for example. The supply to Delhi ay 1.30 pm was reduced to an all-time low of 40 MW against its demand of 4000 MW.   

Metro services on all six lines in Delhi have stopped. Upto 300 trains have reportedly been hit across the North. Shatabdis and Rajdhanis have been halted on their tracks.  

100 MWs of emergency power is being provided to VVIP areas in the capital.


A massive outage yesterday - the worst in a decade - left 370 million people in seven states and Delhi without power for many hours. The crisis then was caused by a collapse of the Northern grid.  Metro trains in Delhi yesterday were affected by that huge blackout, causing chaos during the morning rush hour.  500 passenger trains and 1.5 lakh people using them were affected by delays and cancellations.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said yesterday that a three-member committee would determine the cause of the crisis. He refused to confirm whether the outage was caused by state like UP and Haryana drawing more than their allotted share of power.  

Blast in Assam: Army vehicles targeted; one jawan killed, 7 injured

Guwahati: At least one jawan was killed and seven others were injured in a high intensity blast in Assam's Goalpara district today. 

According to sources, an improvised explosive device or an IED exploded under an army truck carrying soldiers from Kokrajhar to Agia in Goalpara at around 10:25 am.  A Tata Sumo car travelling along with the truck was also targeted.

Banned outfit United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA is said to be behind the blast.

RBI Credit Policy

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) macro-economic report has painted a gloomy picture about the Indian economy. It has lowered the FY13 GDP forecast between 6.5 and 7.2% and has noted the upside risk to inflation.

Highlights of macro economic report:

Growth:

The growth picture is pretty dismal. If we did 5.3% in the previous quarter we are likely to do no better in the current quarter. The dangers to growth come even from the global side, which looks pretty bleak now.

Inflation:

The consumer price inflation remains very sticky at double digits. It is not likely to go down because monsoon is questionable at the current juncture. Globally, the harvest is bad and a lot of economies worldwide are stimulating growth through cutting interest rates. Therefore, that could push up commodity prices.

Current account deficit:

The third major factor the report points out is the current account deficit. At the moment, we can't afford 4.2% current account deficit of last year although crude oil prices are falling, service and software exports have fallen.

The RBI has also pointed out that the Nasscom forecast cannot be met. Therefore, in the current year even 2.5% of current account deficit looks difficult to sustain.

No interest rate cut by RBI?

The conclusion one can draw from all this looks like given the inflation expectation and the current account deficit dangers the RBI is unlikely to stimulate demand by cutting interest rate at this juncture.

It believes that the government has to do its bit in the first place by cutting fiscal deficit and using that extra money to stimulate investment so that growth is generated, only then can space be created for monetary policy.

What does the poll indicate?

The CNBC-TV18 poll indicates something very similar although it was taken before the macro economic report. Ninety percent of people who were polled said they don't expect a repo rate cut. Only 10% expect a 25 bps repo rate cut. As far as the CRR is concerned, 90% do not expect a CRR cut; 5% expect 50 bps and another 5% expect a 25 bps.

The more important point that the market will watch out for will be the growth forecast of RBI. The GDP forecast in April was put in at 7.3, 90% of people who were surveyed said that they expect the forecast to be brought down. Of this 90%, 45% said it will be between 6.5 and 7.2.

The other half said it will be below 6.5% that is 6-6.5%. Ten percent people said it will be brought down to between 5.5% and 6%. So, there are people who expect GDP to come at 5 point something in the current year.

A large majority expect RBI’s inflation target to be brought up. Fifty five percent said it will be unchanged, 45% said it can be raised to 6.5% to 7% and few said even above 7%.

Sixty percent expect RBI’s stance to remain unchanged. Fourty percent believe that RBI can adopt a slightly dovish stance in the policy.

RBI expected to keep rates unchanged

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Tuesday, seeing high inflation as a bigger danger than the slowest growth in almost a decade and keeping pressure on the government to revive the economy's fortunes.

Weaker-than-normal monsoon rains add to expectations that the RBI will keep its repo rate on hold at 8.00 per cent. High food prices resulting from poor rains may be beyond the reach of monetary policy, but they can add to inflationary expectations and tempt the government into spending more on subsidies.

Of 20 economists polled last week by Reuters, 19 expected the central bank to keep the repo rate unchanged.

After its mid-quarter policy review in June, roughly one-third of respondents had expected a July rate cut. Since then, RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao has voiced concern about high inflation, including for consumer prices, reinforcing expectations he will leave rates on hold.

Still, several market participants said the rapid deteriorating in the global economy as the euro zone debt crisis takes its toll suggested that the Indian central bank's decision may still be a close call.

"Over the past 6-8 weeks, the global situation has turned sharply adverse, and downside risks to the GDP growth projection have emerged. Upside risks to inflation seem limited at this juncture," said Hitendra Dave, head of global markets at HSBC in India.

On Monday, the RBI warned about a weakening growth outlook and upside risks to inflation in its quarterly review of the economy.

In June, wholesale price inflation rose to 7.25 per cent, while consumer price inflation hit 10.02 per cent. Wholesale prices are the main inflation gauge in India.

The RBI is also expected to leave the cash reserve ratio, the share of deposits that banks must keep with the RBI, unchanged at 4.75 per cent on Tuesday.

Indian stocks rallied on Monday, partly on hopes for a surprise rate cut, but debt markets remained cautious as benchmark 10-year bond yields rose slightly.

Subbarao has stressed the need for the government to reduce its fiscal deficit and improve the investment climate. He has said the central bank's 13 rate rises between March 2010 and October 2011, as it fought double digit inflation, were not the key reason for the slowdown in the economy, which grew at just 5.3 per cent in the March quarter, its weakest pace in 9 years.

The Indian central bank cut rates by a steeper-than-expected 50 basis points in April but has maintained a hawkish stance since, even in the face of widespread expectations in June it would cut rates again.

A continued hard line would make it an outlier compared with China, Brazil, South Korea and others, which have eased monetary policy in recent weeks to bolster their flagging economies.

The central bank has also been adamant that the government does its bit to boost the once high-flying economy.

It called on the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to rein in spending on subsidies, but expectations that New Delhi may soon raise diesel prices to reduce its spending and borrowing burden and so alleviate pressure on market rates have been pushed back due to opposition from within the ruling coalition.

Singh spoke a month ago of reviving the economy's "animal spirit," but companies are still waiting for government measures, such as allowing foreign direct investment in supermarkets and airlines, to lift sentiment.

A study last week by Indian rating agency Crisil found that capital expenditure by 170 private-sector companies will fall by 35 percent on average in the fiscal year that ends in March.

New York's Plaza Hotel sold to Sahara for USD 570m

Sahara Group has agreed to buy a controlling stake in New York's landmark Plaza Hotel for USD 570 million, Elad Properties, an Israeli-owned real estate company, said on Monday.

The 105-year-old luxury hotel overlooking New York's Central Park, is jointly owned by Elad Properties, an Israeli-owned real estate company, and Saudi-based Kingdom Holdings Co.

Elad, controlled by Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva, said it would receive 1.6 billion shekels for its 60% stake, while Kingdom will receive the rest.

Kingdom, the investment vehicle of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will hold a 25% stake once the deal is completed, Elad said in a statement.

Elad said Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc, which has managed the hotel since 1999 and which is owned by the Saudi prince, will continue to operate the property.

Tshuva bought the hotel eight years ago for USD 675 million.

According to media reports, Elad had sold luxury apartments in the renovated hotel for USD 1.5 billion. The sale of the apartments alone netted Elad Group USD 500 million in profit.

USD 1=4.05 shekels

Heads roll after North India's worst blackout in 11 years

New Delhi:  Action has been taken against power officials in Uttar Pradesh for the massive blackout on Monday. Huge parts of North India spent Sunday night and much of Monday morning without any electricity. A fault near Agra, coupled with overdrawing of power by Uttar Pradesh, led to the blackout, which was the worst failure of the Northern Grid since 2001.

1. Following the massive power outage, over a dozen IAS officers have been transferred in Uttar Pradesh, including Avinash Awasthi, the chairman of the state-run Uttar Pradesh state Power Corporation. However, Mr Awasthi's future has been kept in abeyance; he has not been given a fresh posting. The power grid collapsed because some states apparently drew more power than they were authorised to do to meet the rising demand during the summer, Mr Awasthi had earlier said.
2. The crisis began at 2.30 am on Monday when the Northern power grid collapsed. Seven states including UP, Punjab, Haryana, and all of Delhi were plunged into darkness.  370 million people were affected - that's more than the population of the United States and Canada combined. 
3. By the afternoon, 80 per cent of the power had been restored in Delhi. Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the last time the grid collapsed, in 2001, it took 16 hours to restore services. This time, he said, most services were back up within six hours. By the evening, the Northern Grid was completely restored.
4. The Northern grid was drawing power from the neighbouring Eastern and Western grids as well as getting hydroelectric power from the neighbouring mountain kingdom of Bhutan.
5. Around 1.5 lakh passengers in 300 trains suffered delays as the power grid failure crippled operations across eight divisions of the northern railway. 200 goods trains were cancelled. Rajdhanis and Shatabdis ran four to five hours late.  In Delhi, the metro could not run during the morning rush hour, causing huge traffic jams as desperate commuters hit the roads instead. By 9 am, metro officials said the services were back to normal. 
6. The Power Minister said a committee with three members will investigate what happened. 
7. The international airport in Delhi was not affected by the power outage. "All our essential services like flight arrival and departure, check-in, baggage handling, aerobridge services were shifted to our back-up system. So all these operations remained normal", an airport spokesperson said. He, however, conceded that non-essential services could be hit. 
8. The power deficit was worsened by a weak monsoon that lowered hydroelectric generation and kept temperatures higher, further increasing electricity usage as people seek to cool off.
9. Shivpal Singh Yadav, the power minister in the state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 200 million people, said that while demand during peak hours hits 11,000 megawatts, the state can only provide 9,000 megawatts.
10. Residents of Delhi are worried about their water supply being hit next. Delhi's six water treatment plants have been shut since power failed. All Delhi Jal Board water-pumping stations were affected. Power companies are giving priority to the Jal Board. Residents should be prepared for an erratic water supply till Tuesday morning. 

Fire on Tamil Nadu Express; 32 dead, several injured

Hyderabad: Coach S-11 of the Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express caught fire early this morning, near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh; 32 people have died and several others have been injured.

The injured have been taken to the Nellore civic hospital.

The fire started due to a short circuit near a toilet of the coach at about 4:28 am. The coach that seats 72, was full. The bodies of those who died are bring recovered now; most are charred beyond recognition and identification will be difficult. 


Early reports say the doors of the coach were jammed and so many people could not escape as the fire spread. Some were asphyxiated, fell unconscious and were burnt to death. Among those who did was a mother who in death still clutched her little baby. 

The burnt coach has been detached from the train.  The coach had 17 people from Delhi, 11 from Bhopal.

In the morning, an alert deputy station master spotted the fire as the train passed train passed Nellore station. The train was then brought to a halt. Passengers were evacuated immediately and no other coach was affected. 

A special train will leave for Nellore from Chennai at 9.30 am.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed shock and anguish at the fire accident. Mr Reddy will leave for Nellore to take stock of the situation.

Here are the helpline numbers:

Secunderabad: 040-27786723, 27700868; Vijayawada: 0866-2345863, 2345864 and Nellore: 0861-2331477, 2576924; New Delhi: 011-23342954, 23341072, 23341074; Hazrat Nizamuddin: 011-24359748

Massive power failure in northern India since 2:30 am

New Delhi:  There has been a massive power breakdown in northern India; it's the worst northern grid failure since 2001. The power failure has majorly hit metro services in Delhi along with the water and electricity supply across seven states in north India.

1. There has been no power in seven states - Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal - since 2.30 last night, when the northern grid collapsed.
2. Officials in the power ministry say that the situation will return to normal by noon. Power returned to parts of east, west and south Delhi by 9 am. 
3. Delhi's metro service was not running this morning, leaving thousands of rush-hour passengers scrambling. By 9:30 am, the situation returned to normal at all six lines on the Delhi Metro. 
4. Delhi's six water treatment plants were shut since power failed; five of them are now operational. All Delhi Jal Board water pumping stations have also been affected. Power companies are giving priority to the Jal Board.
5. Traffic signals in Delhi were also down. The Traffic Police says that the areas where power has not been restored will be physically manned till the situation is normal.
6. Essential services at the Delhi airport have been shifted to generator mode. There is back- up to last 48 hours. 
7. AIIMS and the Prime Minister's house are on hydel power.
8. Preliminary enquiry shows the collapse happened due to a fault near Agra.
9. All NTPC, state generator units tripped. The collapse led to an auto shut down of all power generation across seven north Indian states.
10. In Uttar Pradesh, none of the NTPC or state units are on stream till now.

Two women killed in blast on a tourist bus in Kashmir's Anantnag district

Anantnag: Two women died and six others were injured in a blast in a tourist bus in Anantnag district of South Kashmir today. Police said the bus was carrying tourists from Mumbai. 

The attack comes on a day when Defence Minister AK Antony is in the Kashmir valley to review the security situation there. 

During his two-day visit to the state beginning today he is expected to interact with troops deployed in the forward locations.


This is Mr Antony's first visit to the state in the last 18 months. He will also interact with the state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. The Defence Minister is also expected to discuss the issue of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the state with top commanders.

Normal life in the valley has also been affected today due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest the killing of a youth in army firing on Tuesday.

Mr Geelani had called for a strike to protest the killing of Hilal Ahmad Dar in Army firing at Ashtengoo Naar in Bandipora district on Tuesday night.

While the Army maintained that the victim was killed following an exchange of firing with militants, the family of the deceased claimed that he was taken into custody and later shot dead

Can Delhi Metro deal with blasts, earthquakes?

New Delhi: All Metro trains came to a grinding halt at 11 am today and commuters were given different reasons for it - bomb blast, earthquake and terrorist strike, but everything was normal in less than an hour.

This was because of a major mock drill in 11 Metro stations across the National Capital Region to check the preparedness of various agencies in case of an emergency. This is the first time that the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) undertook such a major exercise without making public the exact timing of the drill.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at various Metro stations and trains were delayed due to the mock drill, but constant announcements were made both on trains and at stations about the exercise. Trains stopped on tracks for over 45 minutes as the exercises were conducted prompting passengers to complain about the delay.


Busy stations like Laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar, Rajiv Chowk and Central Secretariat were flooded with people as thousands waited to catch a train.

Between 11 am and 11.50 am, entry into the 11 stations was closed as a part of the standard emergency procedure. Incidents like bomb blast, strong earthquakes, fire and terrorist strikes were enacted to check the response mechanism.

Ramya, a software professional, said she went to Qutub Minar Metro station at 10.55 am and was there till a little before 12 noon for a Metro train. "I was aware that there is a drill today, but not about the timing. I had a very harrowing time at the station," she said. 

Karol Bagh, Dwarka Sec-11, Central Secretariat, Pitampura, Azadpur, Badarpur, Kirti Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Shahdara, Noida City Centre and Guru Dronacharya in Gurgaon are the stations where the drills were conducted. 

DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said the aim of this drill was to check the preparedness of DMRC staff and coordination between Delhi Metro's staff, the police, medical staff and the fire brigade in such a disaster scenario.

Mock drills are regularly conducted at Metro premises to check preparedness to tackle different situations.

ND Tiwari DNA test confirms he fathered the man who took him to court

New Delhi: ND Tiwari's DNA test has confirmed that he is the biological father of Rohit Shekhar, the 32-year-old man who filed a paternity suit against him. 

Mr Shekhar had taken Mr Tiwari to court in 2008, claiming that he was Mr Tiwari's son. The former Andhra Pradesh Governor and veteran Congress leader denied that he fathered Mr Shekhar. The DNA test was ordered by the Delhi High Court to settle the matter. This morning, the court rejected Mr Tiwari's appeal that the result of the DNA test be kept confidential. 

Mr Tiwari, who is a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal, had moved both the High Court and the Supreme Court yesterday seeking to keep the test report confidential till the conclusion of hearing in the paternity suit against him. He was appealing against a July 20 High Court order which said the DNA test results would be made public today. 


On July 20 too, Justice Reva Khetrapal had dismissed Mr Tiwari's plea that the report be kept confidential saying, "You cannot misinterpret the Supreme Court order. It was for the purpose of collection of blood sample for DNA test." 
 
The Congressman had tried different legal routes to avoid submitting a blood sample. He finally did furnish a sample on May 29 this year at his Dehradun residence, following a court order. The High Court had directed Mr Tiwari to undergo the DNA test on April 27. Mr Tiwari was also fined Rs. 25,000 for delaying legal processes.