CHANDIGARH: A major power outage hit several parts of Gurugram on Friday evening after a transformer exploded in Sector 72, triggering a grid collapse. The disruption also affected Rapid Metro services for nearly an hour, leaving dozens of passengers stranded and forcing some to walk along the tracks to the nearest station.
The sudden blackout, amid sweltering heat, caused widespread discomfort across households and major disruptions at commercial establishments.
Sources said a fire broke out at the 220kV power substation in Sector 72 in Gurugram after a technical fault triggered an oil leak and a subsequent blast in the transfer circuit. The outage affected seven power substations, disrupting electricity supply in sectors 15, 38, 44, 46, 52 and 56, along with the Maruti 66 KVA powerhouse.
Areas from Sector 38 to 57, along with Sector 15 Part-1, Part-2 and Sector 18, also remained without electricity. Rapid Metro services were disrupted, forcing passengers to get off and walk along the tracks to the nearest station. However, services on the Yellow Line continued to operate normally through a standby substation.
A video which has gone viral on social media showed passengers walking on the tracks after the metro stopped due to the outage.
The substation, which powers half the city, is a lifeline of the power supply infrastructure of Gurugram, with seven more substations drawing electricity from it.
"Extreme heat caused the current transformer of one of the three main circuits of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited powering the Sector-72 substation to explode and catch fire. The fault affected other circuits too following which the outage took place which lasted from 60 to 90 minutes," said an official.
It is learnt that the lone government mortuary near Sector-12 also did not have the power supply, triggering fear of decomposition of the bodies amid the extreme heat.
The Public Relations Officer of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), Sandeep Chugh confirmed the incident.
"It was caused by a technical fault. This triggered an oil leak and subsequent blast in the current transfer circuit," he added.
The electricity department issued a statement announcing that power has been restored in sectors 15, 38, 44, 46, 52 and 56.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the services were hit for about 45 minutes.
"Due to power supply failure from Sec 72 substation of HVPNL in Gurugram, which feeds power to Rapid Metro, Gurugram, and the Gurugram section of the Yellow Line, train services were not available from 7:50 pm to 8:33 pm in Rapid Metro," the statement added.
