31 July,2012 06:51 AM IST | | Agencies
Rail, Metro and road-traffic operations, as well as services at hospitals and civic bodies, were severely disrupted.u00a0Seven states in north India saw power trip off at 2.32 am due to a major breakdown in the Northern Grid - an interconnected transmission network that delivers electricity from various power generating stations to distribution utilities. The power failure also hit water supply with water treatment plants unable to operate.
The last time such a crisis took place was in 2001, when it took 16 hours to restore normalcy. Apart from the national capital Delhi, supplies were badly affected in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, said VV Sharma, general manager of Power System Operation Corp Ltd.u00a0By evening, the electricity supply was "almost fully restored". The power trip had occurred near Agra, but officials were unable to say what caused the massive breakdown. u00a0
