Patna: Patna faced a severe power crisis on Thursday after a major electricity grid failed on Wednesday night. Over 10 lakh people had to suffer without power for 19 hours in extreme heat. The blackout affected many areas of the city, including Kankarbagh, Mithapur, Beur, Bypass, and Karbighiya. People had no electricity or water, and daily life was badly disturbed.
The problem began around 10.30pm on Wednesday when there was a loud blast at the New GIS Mithapur Grid. This explosion stopped power supply to 17 substations connected to the grid. Many homes were left in complete darkness, and people could not even cook or use fans. Water supply also stopped because electric water pumps were not working.
On Thursday morning, the power company tried to restore electricity by supplying it from other grids like Gaighat and Jakkanpur. However, this supply was not regular, and people got electricity only for 10 to 30 minutes after every one to two hours. The water problem got a little better, but people were still uncomfortable in the heat.
Officials said the problem happened because of a gas leak in the grid’s duct, which caused the blast. This type of grid failure had never happened in Patna before. Earlier, small faults in old grids were fixed quickly. But this time, the failure in the new underground GIS grid led to a bigger issue. Engineers had to manually connect wires to bring back electricity. An investigation will be done to find the exact cause of the explosion.
