Power outage affects 600M in India

Power was being restored incrementally Tuesday in New Dehli, hit by a massive power grid failure that officials said affected more than 600 million people. Monday's power grid failure affected seven states in northern India, but Tuesday's failure was larger, affecting 12 states, as well as the capital, FirstPost India reported. Officials said the power outage was one of the world's most widespread power failures. Reports indicated the grid failure was due to a failure in transmission lines, FirstPost India said. The eastern grid's failure and the resulting outage in Kolkata led to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee closing government offices and schools. The power outages took on political tones when Indian People's Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar said the crisis was an outgrowth of government mismanagement. "For the last two days the country is suffering. This is an unparalleled occurrence," Javadekar said. "The whole machinery has failed to locate the exact fault and yet pushed the entire load onto it." At least 300 trains have been held up in the affected regions, Indian Railways spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said. FirstPost India reported partial service has resumed on all lines of the Delhi metro. Officials said some railway lines also were functioning Officials reported power was being distributed to emergency services in Delhi. Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde ordered an investigation into Monday's outage, CNN reported. He said the last time an entire grid failed in north India was 10 years ago.