Major power outage crippled Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar

MUMBAI: A major power breakdown brought Mumbai and parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts to the knees on Monday, owing to a major grid failure, officials said here.

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 warfooting to restore power,” Raut assured 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 and Western Railway — 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 Spokesperson said the power outage was due to the Central Grid failure of the 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,” a 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.

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