New Delhi, Jul 30 (IANS): For over two and a half hours the Lutyens' zone in central Delhi, which includes Rastrapati Bhavan and the Prime Minister's House, was blacked out as the entire northern India plunged into a power crisis early Monday due to a major breakdown in Northern Grid.

"The power supply was disrupted since 2.32 a.m, but we managed to partially restore it by 5 a.m. in VVIP areas. We got power from the gas turbines of Badarpur and Dadri. By 10.30 a.m. the power supply to the NDMC area was normal," a New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) official told IANS.

The Lutyens' zone in central Delhi is the seat of the central government and home to the country's top politicians and bureaucrats, besides some industrialists.

"On priority basis, the vital services and VVIP areas were first provided power, most of the services have now been restored. Power supply has been restored in nearly 80 percent of Delhi," an official from a power distribution company told IANS.

According to Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, nearly 60 percent of electricity supply had been restored and efforts to restore the power supply were going on "on a war footing".

Northern Railways, Delhi Metro and other vital services such as water treatment plants were affected by the power supply disruption.

The power outage led to an acute water problem across Delhi with taps running dry.

Delhi Metro services could be completely restored only around 8.45 a.m. after more than two hours (from 6 a.m.) disruption. By 7 a.m., only 25 percent of the services were restored.