Power supply affected in parts of Mumbai following heavy rains

Few parts of Mumbai plunged into darkness since this morning after the power supplier Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) shut down six substations in the areas following incessant rains lashing the city since last evening.

"We have shut down six substations in some parts of Mumbai as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident," BEST Deputy PRO Manoj Varade told PTI here today.

He said the substations in areas of Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Punjabi Colony (Sion), Bhendi Bazaar, Opera House have been shut since this morning.

"Due to heavy and incessant rains in the city since yesterday, there are possibilities of water logging in these areas. If we operate the transformers in such a condition, the chances of them getting damaged are high, which may result in complete disruption of power supply. Therefore, to avoid this, we decided to shut down these substations," he said.

When asked when will the operations in these substations resume, Varade said, "It depends on the rains. If it continues to rain heavily, we might have to keep them shut for few more hours."

Meanwhile, power supply in certain areas in Dadar and nearby areas in Central Mumbai has also been disrupted since morning.

"Electric supply has been disrupted since 5 am. We have been trying to contact the BEST control room, but we are not getting any response from them," Rahul Deshmukh, a resident from Prabhadevi said.

Varade said it would take some time to resolve the problem, as many BEST employees have not been able to reach their offices due to heavy rains.

"We are receiving many complaints since morning about power supply disruption. But many employees have not been able to reach their offices as the train services on all the three lines--western, central and harbour--were shut due to water logging on railway tracks. However, we are trying to send our teams to fix the problems. But this might take some time," he added.