Amid sweltering heat, power outages hit Mumbai’s suburbs, SoBo

Mumbai: Power outages continued in parts of Dahisar, Kurla and other Mumbai suburbs for up to six hours early on Thursday, leaving residents grappling with a sleepless, sweltering night and a disrupted morning routine. In Dahisar, almost 50% of the buildings faced recurring outages on Thursday night. Meanwhile, parts of CSMT and nearby areas, and also Regal and other nearby buildings, including parts of Electric House, too, faced power outages for at least 30 minutes on Thursday evening due to tripping of feeders at separate locations. Citizens were inconvenienced, especially several of those working in offices in Fort and near Regal areas.

In Dahisar West, several housing societies reported that power supply went off overnight, shutting down fans and air conditioners during peak humidity and bringing lifts and water pumps to a halt. “We had a sleepless night. No fans, no AC, and the lift wasn’t working,” said a resident, adding that the society was later advised to restrict usage. “In our society, we have been asked not to use AC and geysers till tomorrow.”

The outage also spilled into classrooms. Rustomjee Cambridge International School in Dahisar sent an early morning message to parents announcing precautionary early dispersal due to “an unexpected power outage in the area” and lack of clarity on restoration. Bus students were to be dispersed at 9 am, while others were to be picked up by 9.15 am. The school also kept the primary afternoon session shut, citing uncertainty over further interruptions.

Residents said the lack of timely communication compounded the distress. “On Thursday morning, Tata Power still had not communicated whether the situation had been resolved or more outages were expected,” said an electricity consumer. “In our society message group, we were informed — don’t use washing machines, AC and geysers for a day. The power supply was given to us temporarily on DG sets. So everyone is in shambles right now. It is so frustrating.”

Tata Power, in a statement on the outages in Dahisar West, attributed the interruption in parts of Borivli and Dahisar to a “double fault in an underground cable”, saying supply was progressively restored between 2.15 am and 8 am and that “all affected areas are now fully back on supply”. Repair work, it said, was expected to be completed by 4 pm.

Residents disputed the timeline, though. “Supply came back between 7.45 and 8 am — we faced power outages for nearly six hours,” said one, calling the utility’s restoration window misleading.

Western suburb residents said such interruptions have occurred occasionally over the past couple of weeks, disrupting sleep and daily schedules. Senior citizens and children have been among the worst affected, with families forced to sit in dark, stifling rooms while lift failures and stalled pumps left many struggling for water and access to upper floors.