Gurgaon: Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) has suspended three officials following a major technical failure at a substation and a fire that triggered widespread outages across the city and halted Rapid Metro operations.The action against junior engineers (JEs) — Sandeep Singh, Brijesh and Sandeep Nain, all in charge of the Sector 72 substation — follows the blackout that left nearly half the city without electricity on May 22.A 220 kV current transformer (CT) at the substation developed a fault around 7.50pm. The malfunction caused an explosion and fire before the breaker could trip, resulting in the shutdown of both circuits feeding several key residential and commercial zones. While the power utility earlier indicated that extreme heat and rising demand may have caused thermal stress on equipment, the initiation of internal disciplinary action marks the first concrete step towards establishing accountability.According to the order, the services of JEs have been placed under suspension with immediate effect. “A detailed technical investigation is underway to determine whether negligence, inadequate preventive maintenance or equipment failure caused the incident,” an official said.During the suspension period, the headquarters of the officials has been fixed at the office of the chief engineer, HVPNL, Hisar. The chief engineer has also been directed to prepare draft charge sheets against the three officials in coordination with the legal wing. The JEs are likely to face departmental proceedings once charge sheets are finalised.HVPNL said that reinforcement of the transmission network and thermal audits of substations are now being prioritised amid soaring regional power demand. The document underscores that the blackout not only disrupted supply to multiple residential sectors but also brought Rapid Metro operations to a halt, illustrating the magnitude of the failure.The CT explosion at the high-voltage substation triggered a cascading impact across connected substations, forcing shutdowns and plunging large parts of Gurgaon — including sectors 38, 44, 46, 56, 52, 15 and adjoining areas — into darkness for hours. Several high-rise societies and commercial pockets reported prolonged overnight outages. By late night on May 22, teams from HVPNL and DHBVN restored both 220 kV circuits after emergency repair work.
