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Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that electricity supply in the northern states of the country that faced a major blackout late on Sunday night, has been restored by up to 60 per cent. Shinde told media in New Delhi that repair work is being carried out on a war footing to resolve the crisis. He said a three member panel has been set up to inquire into the reasons for the sudden blackout. Shinde further revealed that preliminary investigations suggest that the fault had occurred in the grid near Agra , which had a cascading effect on the entire Northern Grid, leading to a tripping of major thermal power plants and hydroelectric stations across the region. The sudden failure had plunged entire North India into darkness and affected train and metro services in the region. The massive power breakdown in northern India was said to be the worst Northern Grid failure since 2001. There was no power in seven states, Delhi , Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab , Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, since 2.30 a.m. this morning. The power failure also affected water supply in the seven north Indian states. Several traffic signals in the national capital region, including New Delhi , Gurgaon, Faridabad and NOIDA were also non-functional. Traffic Police said the areas where power has not been restored, will be physically manned till the situation is normalised.

60 percent power supply restored in north India despite grid failure: Shinde