Mumbai: Repeated theft and cutting of power cables along Mumbai Coastal Road have left several stretches without street lighting and knocked out around 60-65 CCTV cameras.Replacement of damaged and stolen cables has already begun, while a preventive plan is being worked out to stop the incidents from recurring, BMC said.Coastal Road (South) was opened to traffic in phases from March 2024. Streetlights were installed along the road as per prescribed standards, while CCTV cameras were deployed for surveillance.Initially, the streetlights were powered through copper cables. However, after commissioning, several instances of copper cable theft were reported. Around 20 to 25 complaints were registered by the contractors with the respective police stations.BMC subsequently switched to aluminium power cables to prevent copper theft and ensure an uninterrupted power supply. However, the problem continued with aluminium cables also being stolen or cut at several locations, including near Mahalaxmi Temple, Markandeshwar Temple and parts of Worli.BMC said it has replaced approximately 110 km of power cables as part of restoration and preventive measures.It also said fibre communication cables used for the CCTV network had been cut or stolen, resulting in around 60-65 cameras going offline.
