Power failure: Blame game, probe begin as grids restored

August 1, 2012

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New Delhi, August 1: Three electricity grids connecting more than 20 states and the national capital collapsed on Tuesday, triggering what is now being called the country's worst power crisis, and what's worse, it was the second in two days.

Even as the Power Ministry scrambles to restore normalcy, inquiry has begun over what caused it.

Sources say that the trouble started in the Eastern Grid this time. The optimal transmission frequency for any grid is 48 hertz, but the number dropped to 47.50 in the Eastern Grid and 47.69 in the Northern Grid.

While no specific region has been named so far for the overdrawing of power, the Centre has blamed four states - Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab.

Meanwhile, there is uproar over Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's promotion to Home Ministry on a day half of the country suffered a total blackout.

The Opposition has even questioned if this promotion was a reward for his loyalty to the Gandhi family.

Life thrown out of gear

The blackout in 20 states across north, eastern and north-eastern India affected more than 60 crore people and severely impacted train services in six railway zones, bringing 300 trains to halt.

The worst sufferers were 265 miners who got trapped in coal mines in West Bengal and Jharkhand due to the power outage. They were evacuated after hours of agony.

In the national capital, thousands of Metro commuters had a harrowing time when the trains stopped inside the tunnels as transmission lines tripped at 1 pm. The power collapse triggered disruption in Metro and train services, crippled water supply and choked roads due to non-functional traffic lights.

States that got affected

Northern Grid states: Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand.

Eastern Grid states: West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar

North East Grid states: Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunanchal Pradesh.

Blame game begins

For the first time, the three inter-state transmission networks - Northern Grid, Eastern Grid and North-Eastern Grid - tripped together.

Speaking to mediapersons about the crisis, Sushil Kumar Shinde, who shifted from the Power Ministry to the Home Ministry on Tuesday, put the blame of the grid failure on the states that have been over drawing power. He said, "We had warned several states about overdrawing of power. So we had to face second grid failure in less than 24 hours."

He also warned the states against overdrawing electricity above their limits, saying, "If states overdraw from their regular quota, they will be penalised."

Earlier, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd chairman RK Nayak said that the problem was difficult to be located because of a complex network.

He further said that some sections are creating problems due to over drawing of power, but the glitch would be plugged by night.

Nayak, however, said he could not give any assurance without analysing all the details.

The blackout also gave an opportunity to the Opposition to hit out at the government over its failure to prevent the power crisis.

Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi posted a tweet saying, "Pradhan Mantri ji, 60 crore people and 19 states are in darkness. Country wants to know is there any coalition dharma you are following here too?"

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Financially troubled Yes Bank on Saturday reported a standalone net loss of ₹ 18,560.31 crore for the third quarter of the financial year 2019-20. This is amongst the biggest losses reported by the India Inc.

At present, the private lender is under a moratorium and is controlled by the office of the administrator appointed by the RBI.

The bank had reported a net profit of ₹1,001.85 crore during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Besides, the bank's total income fell to Rs 6,268.50 crore from Rs 8,849.81 crore earned during the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal.

On consolidated basis, Yes Bank reported a net loss of ₹18,564.24 crore for the December quarter from a net profit of Rs 1,000.57 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The independent auditor's review report on the consolidated results pointed out that there is a "material uncertainty related to going concern" of the bank.

"The said assumption of going concern is dependent upon the degree of success of the final reconstruction scheme, the quantum of capital infused into the bank and the bank's ability to stabalise its deposit balances post withdrawal of the moratorium by the RBI. Our conclusion is not modified in respect of this matter," the auditor said.

Furthermore, the bank recognised additional loans of ₹ 5,150.2 crore as NPAs and related provisioning requirements of ₹772.5 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.

The bank has recognised an additional provisions of ₹15,422.0 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2019.

Last week, the RBI placed Yes Bank under moratorium and capped the withdrawal limit at ₹50,000 till next Wednesday.

Additionally, the central bank also superseded Yes Bank's board of directors and appointed former SBI CFO Prashant Kumar as its administrator.

Meanwhile, Kumar has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the financially troubled lender. He will take over his new responsibilities once the moratorium on the stressed lender is lifted on Wednesday.

Apart from Kumar, Sunil Mehta, former non-executive Chairman of Punjab National Bank, will take over as the non-executive Chairman of Yes Bank.

Other board members include Mahesh Krishnamurthy and Atul Bheda, both as non-executive Directors.

Additionally, six private lenders have joined the SBI to rescue Yes Bank with Federal Bank committing ₹300 crore by subscribing to 30 crore shares of ₹2 each at a premium of ₹8 per equity share.

The six private lenders have now committed an investment of ₹3,700 crore in the cash-strapped private sector bank.

On Friday, ICICI Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Ltd had announced that they will be investing ₹1,000 crore each in Yes Bank's equity. Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will be investing ₹ 600 crore and ₹500 crore, respectively, while Bandhan Bank will invest ₹300 crore.

The SBI board has already approved up to 49 per cent stake purchase in Yes Bank, as per the RBI's reconstruction scheme for the lender. It had said on Thursday that an investment of ₹7,250 crore would be made in Yes Bank to pick up₹ 725 crore equity shares.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Lucknow, Jan 16: The drive initiated by Uttar Pradesh's Yogi Adityanath government to identify non-Muslim immigrants in the state seems to have run into rough weather.

In Pilibhit, where the maximum number of about 35,000 illegal immigrants has been identified, it has now been found that information is being sought by the state government on an unverified document. A large number of families from Bangladesh settled here several decades ago.

The survey began last month even before the bill was notified. Moreover, the feedback email on the questionnaire is a Gmail ID -- [email protected] -- which is not a government server.

It is not known how the state government is drawing up the lists without having the verification criteria.

After the report was put up by a news website, Home Department officials feigned complete ignorance about the issue.

A spokesman said: "This was an unofficial and preliminary exercise to assess the number of illegal migrants in the state. The document is meant to collect basic beneficiary information. No list of potential beneficiaries has yet been sent to Delhi."

The document has eight columns asking for name, father's name, place of stay in India, and where did they come from and when. It does not mention any requirement of proof, or documents.

It also asks for a description of the kind of atrocities they faced, presumably in their home country.

The District Magistrate of Pilibhit claimed they are checking documents of the refugees, but denied any knowledge of the unsigned document.

The CAA is meant to benefit Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. The statement of purposes of the Act adds that it is meant to benefit those fleeing religious persecution from the above countries.

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Thursday, 16 Jan 2020

Yogi is unfit to be CM as he does not know what he speaks and does.   Its unfortunate that we are such idiot as CM.    Instead of CAA we need PAA (Politician amendment act).    We need age limit of politicians to be fixed to 65 or maximum 70 years and any one coming in politics to be free from any bad doing.   No rapists/murders/looters/decoits should be allowed to contest election.   Presently 90 percent of the politicians have bad record.  Few are rapists, murders, having spent jail term etc.    

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that he has decided not to participate in any 'Holi Milan' programme as experts have advised reducing mass gatherings to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

"Experts across the world have advised reducing mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID19 Novel Coronavirus. Hence this year, I have decided not to participate in any 'Holi Milan' programme," the PM tweeted.

This year, Holi is on March 10.

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