Fire at UP substation causes power outages across Delhi
New Delhi: A fire at a substation of the Power Grid Corporation in Mandola, Uttar Pradesh, caused power outages in several parts of Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, including the areas around the Delhi LG secretariat and the Chief Minister’s residence. Officials reported outages of varying lengths.
The fire led to disruptions largely in central and east Delhi, with some areas in north Delhi also affected. Power distribution company officials said that areas like Civil Lines, Model Town, Kashmiri Gate, Gulabi Bagh, Shakti Nagar, and Vijay Nagar faced outages, but power was restored within an hour.
The power supply to the LG House and the Chief Minister’s residence was briefly interrupted. Other affected areas included ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Jamia, Narela, Model Town, Rohini, Gopalpur, Sabzi Mandi, Wazirpur, and Kashmiri Gate.
Delhi Power Minister Atishi expressed grave concern over the incident and planned to meet with the Union Power Minister and the chairman of the Power Grid Corporation to prevent such occurrences in the future. In a letter to Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, she detailed the impact, noting that many parts of Delhi, including Wazirabad, Kashmere Gate, Geeta Colony, Harsh Vihar, Preet Vihar, IP Power, Rajghat, Narela, and Gopalpur, experienced outages for nearly two hours. Atishi emphasised the importance of uninterrupted power supply, especially during heatwave conditions, and highlighted that Delhi, as the national capital, is home to over 30 million people and the entire Union government machinery. She described the national power grid failure as a significant concern.
In a post on X, Atishi explained that the fire at the Mandola substation had disrupted power supply in many parts of Delhi starting at 2:11 pm. Delhi receives 1200 MW of power from this substation. The power restoration process began immediately, and electricity was gradually restored to different areas. Atishi noted that the Delhi government strives to provide 24x7 electricity and had recently met a peak power demand of 8300 MW without any blackouts. However, the national power grid failure on Tuesday resulted in the power cut.
Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited stated that power supply in its areas was quickly restored following the fire. The incident affected the power supply at DTL Grid substations in Gopalpur, Sabzi Mandi, Kashmiri Gate, and Narela, impacting areas serviced by TPDDL. This disruption led to power cuts in Narela, Bhalaswa, Burari, Badli, Dheerpur, Shakti Nagar, Swiss Apartments, Civil Lines, Model Town, Kashmiri Gate, Shahzada Bagh, Delhi University, GTB Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, and Jahangirpuri, affecting approximately 440 MW and 400,000 consumers. Restoration work was completed within an hour.
