Jaipur witnessed yet another power disruption on Tuesday when the Secretariat experienced a nearly 20-minute blackout, marking the second high-profile outage this week. This incident follows a 15-minute power cut during Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s press conference in Jaipur just days earlier, which had already caused embarrassment to the administration.
Technical Snag at Heerapura Grid
Officials attributed Tuesday’s blackout to a technical glitch at the 400 kV Heerapura Grid Substation (GSS), which has been experiencing recurrent tripping over recent weeks. The disruption also impacted the Civil Lines area, cutting electricity to the residences of the deputy chief minister and several cabinet ministers for nearly half an hour.
Staff members made repeated calls to engineers as the outage persisted in the high-security administrative zone, where such interruptions are considered rare. Efforts to reach senior officials at Rajasthan Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd (RVPN) for comment were unsuccessful.
Staff Account of the Incident
An employee at the Secretariat described the event: “Power went off for about 15 minutes in the whole of the Secretariat at around 10:30 am. Such incidents are rare here. Even if there is an outage, power usually returns within a minute or so, but never this long.”
Recurring Failures and Official Action
This marks the third trip of the 400 kV Heerapura GSS in less than three weeks. After the June 11 outage during Union minister Vaishnaw’s media briefing, the state energy minister formed a committee to investigate lapses, suspended two employees at the Heerapura GSS, and issued a chargesheet to another staff member.
On Tuesday, RVPN transferred one engineer from the Heerapura GSS and deployed two additional engineers, stating the moves were intended to ensure uninterrupted power supply and proper maintenance. The latest incident again highlights serious laxity in the operation and management of the GSS, which serves as a critical lifeline for consumers in Jaipur.
