Power outage stops Mumbai in its tracks

1. Power outage stops Mumbai in its tracks Commercial Capital’s lifeline cut off for over 3 and a half hour Large parts of the country’s commercial Capital, the neighbouring Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) went without power for more than three and a half hours on Monday, following a combination of factors, including sudden tripping of three major transmission lines and two power generating units. The power supply to many parts of Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Palghar and Panvel — all coming under the jurisdiction of MMR — snapped at around 10.03 am owing to host of factors, including tripping of main 400kv Kalwa-Padgha line-2, Mumbai’s 500 MW Tata Power Station and 250 MW Adani power unit at Dahanu. Following the power breakdown, the suburban services on the Western Railway and Central Railway — considered the lifelines of Mumbai — came to a standstill, following the power breakdown in most parts of the metropolis and surrounding areas of MMR. “Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan power failure is being attended to. Kalwa-Padgha transmissions line got tripped, hence Thane-Palghar, Navi Mumbai power is off. Consequently, there was cascading effect in the form of power failure to Mumbai-Thane & Mumbai suburban

2. city. It will be restored in approximately an hour,” Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said. The power supply came to be restored in many parts of Mumbai and surrounding areas of Mumbai in stages from 12.15 pm to 1.30 pm. Taking serious cognisance of major power failure, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray — who held a meeting with State Energy Minister Nitin Raut, his deputy Prajkta Tanpure, State chief secretary Sanjay Kumar — ordered a comprehensive enquiry into the circumstances leading to the breakdown and also asked the authorities to take measures to ensure against recurrence of a similar power failure in the metropolis. “CM Uddhav discussed the power outage with Minister for Energy @NitinRaut_INC and directed that immediate efforts be made to restore power supply in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan area,” the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) tweeted. “He has also instructed @mybmcCommissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to maintain uninterrupted power supply to hospitals & directed the chief secretary that the control rooms & fire brigade should be vigilant & provide immediate assistance to prevent any accidents due to power cut. The Chief Minister has also directed the suburban railways to coordinate with the railway administration for immediate relief to the affected passengers,” the CMO said in a couple of other tweets. The flight operations at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) remained unaffected. The power breakdown had no impact on arrival and departures of flights. Similarly, there was also an impact on the road traffic because the signaling system was affected. BEST Undertaking, one of the power distributors in Mumbai, said the power supply was “interrupted due to TATA’s incoming electric supply failure” at around 10.15 am Following the disruption in the suburban train services caused by the power breakdown, the commuters were seen jumping down from the trains stranded midway and walking towards nearest railway stations. As there was power supply at Vasai, the Western Railway managed to operate essential suburban trains on the Borivali-Virar sector. While the suburban services on the Western Railways were restored at 12.20 pm, the services on the Central Railway’s harbour line were restored at 10.50 am. The services on the Central Railway’s main line resumed at 12.38 pm. “As power supply is restored in WR’s Mumbai Suburban section, all OHEs have been charged at 12.20 hrs and WR’s suburban train services are restored between Churchgate & Borivali. Services were already on between Borivali & Virar,” the West Railway tweeted.

3. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) asked its hospitals to ensure there was enough supply of diesel for at least eight hours to avoid power failures, especially in the ICUs. “At 10.10 am there were simultaneous substation tripping in MSETCL’s Kalwa, Kharghar causing a huge dip in frequency in the Mumbai transmission system which led to tripping of Mumbai power supply,” Tata Power tweeted. “Restoration work in is in progress to bring supply from the 3 Hydro units and Based on the preliminary assessment of the situation, Tata Power would like to inform that today many parts of Mumbai experienced an unforeseen electricity failure starting at 10 am in the morning due to tripping of MSETCL’s 400 KV transmission system at Kalwa,” Tata Power tweeted “Tata Power started restoring supply to its consumers progressively from 12 noon onwards,” Tata Power added. Meanwhile, the services like water supply, lift operation in housing societies and functioning of traffic signals were also affected because of the sudden failure. However, the Bombay Stock Exchange functioned normally. Among other things, the listing ceremony of the Mazagon Shipbuilders went off well in the morning.