Thousands of passengers of Kolkata Metro were stranded in the tunnel of the metro railways for about 15 minutes after power outage affected the service of the underground railways here on Thursday morning.
Metro authorities blamed Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) for the disconnection of power without any prior information. “Electricity supply was disconnected at 9.53 a.m.Normal metro services resumed at 10.08 a.m.,” Indrani Banerjee, Chief Public Relations Officer, Metro Railways said.
The trains which were in the tunnel were rolled and brought to the platforms, she said.
Passengers claimed that it was pitch dark in the tunnel and platforms after power outage. There was a huge rush in the trains when the power outage occurred.
According to the CESC, the major fault at its Budge Budge power station led to the power blackout.
Power supply to different areas in Kolkata was also disrupted due to the CESC fault. The defect of power has been over come with the support of power distribution companies of West Bengal Government.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called a meeting of senior officials of power department to access the situation. Over a million of students are writing a Class X Madhyamik Examination during the day.
This article was first published in www.thehindu.com