The government is contemplating levying heavy penalties on states overdrawing electricity that results in grid failure and possible imprisonment of chief secretaries to check the menace. This was disclosed by Power Minister Veerapa Moily in an interview to a private news channel.

Citing the report of the expert panel that probed the failure of grids, Mr Moily said not only overdrawal but overloading was also a reason for the collapse. He said there should be independent regulatory authorities at the state-level to check overdrawing by various states.

Over half of the country's population in 21 states went without electricity for several hours on July 31st and 1st August as three major transmission grids failed, bringing northern, eastern and north-eastern regions to a grinding halt.