Major power outage cripples Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar

Mumbai, October 12, 2020

A major power breakdown, owing to a grid failure, disrupted normal life in Mumbai and parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts on Monday, officials said here.

Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said that some regular maintenance work was going on at the 400KV lines at Kalwa, Thane.

"All the load had been shifted to the the other circuit which faced some technical issues and broke down, hitting power supply to large parts of Mumbai-Thane. Work is underway on a war footing to restore power," Raut said in a statement.

One of the Mumbai distributors, BEST said the power supply was "interrupted due to Tata's incoming electric supply failure" at around 10.15 a.m.

The power breakdown hit the lifelines of Mumbai -- Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) -- with all local trains halting en route till Vasai and Diva.

Hapless commuters at many locations jumped down and started walking down to the nearest suburban railway station.

A BMC sspokesperson said the power outage was due to the Central Grid failure of Tata Power at Kalwa, Thane, and restoration could take around an hour.

"In view of interruption in traction power at 10.05 hours due to grid failure of Tata Power company, services between Churchgate and Borivili are suspended. It shall be resumed as soon as traction power supply is restored," WR spokesperson Sumit Thakur said.

However, power supply, from MSETCL was available at Vasai Road and it has been extended to work essential suburban trains between Borivili to Virar section, he added.

Efforts were underway to start services in Churchgate-Borivali section. Commuters are requested not to panic and maintain social distancing, he said.

All operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport were normal, said a sspokesperson.

"The Bombay Stock Exchange is functioning normal. The listing ceremony was concluded successfully for Mazagon Shipbuilders this morning," a BSE spokesperson told IANS.

The power failure had other impact like hitting water supply schedules, lifts getting stuck in some buildings, traffic signals leading to chaos on roads, among others.

IANS