NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Grid failure left more than 300 million people without power in New Delhi and much of northern India for hours today in the worst blackout for more than a decade, highlighting chronic infrastructure woes holding back Asia’s third-largest economy.
The lights in Delhi and seven states went out in the early hours, leaving the capital’s workers sweltering overnight and then stranded at metro stations in the morning rush hour as trains were cancelled.
Electricity supplies were restored to Delhi and much of Uttar Pradesh, a state with more people than Brazil, by midday (0630 GMT). But the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir were still without full power in the early evening.
Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said all power would be restored within hours.
Power shortages and a creaky road and rail network have weighed heavily on the country’s efforts to industrialize. Grappling with the slowest economic growth in nine years, Delhi recently scaled back a target to pump $1 trillion into infrastructure over the next five years.
Major industries have dedicated power plants or large diesel generators and are shielded from outages — but the inconsistent supply affects investment and disrupts small businesses. Office blocks, hotels and large apartment buildings all use backup diesel generators.
Chaos reigned on Delhi’s always-hectic roads on Monday as stop lights failed and thousands of commuters abandoned the metro. Water pumping stations ran dry.
“First, no power since 2 in the morning, then no water to take a shower and now the metro is delayed by 13 minutes after being stuck in traffic for half an hour,” said 32-year-old Keshav Shah, who works 30 km outside the capital.
“As if I wasn’t dreading Monday enough, this had to happen.”
The government’s top economic planning adviser, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said the blackout may have been caused by a mix of coal shortages and other problems on the grid.
“I’ve no doubt that this is the area that we need to show improved performance in, and we also need show a clear sense of what we are doing to prevent it,” Ahluwalia told Reuters at his office, where power had been restored some hours earlier.
