Mumbai: Power outages continued across parts of Girgaum late Sunday night and early Monday, leaving residents exhausted after another night of disrupted sleep and prompting many to plan a protest over what they describe as recurring, late-night power cuts. Several pockets reported interruptions from around midnight onwards, with supply returning only after long gaps, even as temperatures and humidity remained high.The peak power demand in Mumbai was also above 4500MW, one of the highest this summer season.Residents alleged that the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has failed to provide timely updates and effective customer care during outages. “We keep calling, but there is no clear response on when power will be restored,” said a resident of a Girgaum chawl, adding that the repeated disruptions have become routine.A delegation of locals and politicians from Girgaum later met BEST committee chairperson Trushna Vishwasrao, who assured them that she would look into the issue.BEST officials attributed the interruptions to a “cable fault”. Sources within BEST said ageing underground cables in parts of the island city are increasingly prone to faults and require replacement. The undertaking has been carrying out a cable replacement programme and has completed around 50% of the work so far, sources said.The outages also triggered a chain of civic inconveniences. In several residential towers, sudden cuts at night affect sleep and leave families scrambling on Monday morning. With electricity unavailable, water pumps in some buildings did not function, leading to low or no water supply at taps. Lifts were also reported to be non-functional in a few buildings, causing hardship for senior citizens and those living on higher floors.Residents, however, said the explanation offers little comfort without a clear timeline for permanent resolution. Many said they are considering approaching local representatives and staging a protest if outages continue, alleging that neither the utility nor elected officials have provided a lasting solution despite repeated complaints over the past week in parts of the island city and suburbs.The situation has been similar in other parts of island city and also suburbs over the past one week — wherein consumers complained of late night power cuts amid the sultry weather.
