“Plants, which had to shut operations due to gas shortage, will now be able to generate to their full capacity within the next 48 hours,” a senior official at the power department said.

Earlier during the day, the Secretary of the Power Department, Rajendra Kumar, had convened a meeting of the Power Procurement Group of Delhi and representatives of the Discoms. “They were advised to ensure there is sufficient availability of power in Delhi over the next few days and were also advised to ensure that load shedding is carried out in such a manner that no one area is out of electricity for more than an hour per day. With the strike being called off, things will be normal soon,” the official said.

Officials at the power department also revealed that the Capital was able to ward off wide-scale blackouts because the hydro-power generating Damodar Valley Corporation plant was providing Delhi 200 MW daily.

“We were also running two 34 MW units at the Gas Turbine plant on diesel. However, there was still a shortage to the tune of 300 MW,” the official said.

With peak demand at 3100 MW, many areas such as C R Park, Greater Kailash and South Extension were subjected to long power cuts on Friday.

Delhi had to overdraw more than 120 MW from the Northern Grid to meet its demand. Meanwhile, most plants are still shut because, officials explain, even though the strike has been called off it will still take time for the gas to be transmitted.