The state faced acute power crisis on Tuesday afternoon following the break down in northern and eastern grids disrupting train services across three railway divisions. At least 30 trains, including express and passenger trains, were stranded at different stations under Ranchi, Dhanbad and Chakradharpur railway divisions during the power failure which continued for over two-and-a-half hours.
Among the important trains affected included the Delhi-Hatia Jharkhand Swarna Jayanti Express, Jammu Tavi-Rourkela Express, Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi-Express, Patna-Ranchi Jan Shatabdi Express, Hatia- Patna Super Express and Varanasi-Sambalpur Express.
Divisional railway manager (Ranchi) G Malaya said power was not available for around two hours. “The failure occurred at 1.05pm The power has been restored and train services normalized by late evening,” Malaya said.
A standby power supply system was used at the Birsa Munda Airport here during the black out. Airport director Raju Raghavendra Kumar said power supply was restored by 3:30pm. “Air service was not affected,” he claimed.
However, medical service was affected. Most hospitals, especially those run by the state health department, had to even stop surgeries in the operation theatres. The largest government hospital Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) was without power for over one-and-a-half-hours.
