Kharghar residents endure power outage for nearly 14 hours

Almost 14 hours of power outage in various parts of Kharghar sent the daily routine of residents completely haywire. Electric supply to Sectors 35 E, I, F and D, Sectors 7, 37 and 15 was disrupted from 1am on Wednesday causing residents to lose their sleep. Power supply was finally restored by 3.45pm.

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) informed that the power failure was due to a short circuit on two 11KV feeder lines.

MSEDCL was accused of neither giving a prior intimation for the extended duration of power outage nor having a medium to provide appropriate response to the residents.

“Kharghar residents are already enduring major hardship owing to lack of adequate water supply. Adding to our misery is the callous attitude of MSEDCL. There is no way to understand why only a few Sectors are not having electricity for more than 12 hours. I have been contacting the helpline. I have even tweeted asking when the power would be restored. But, there is absolutely no information given,” said Deepak Sudija, a resident of Vishwahans CHS, Kharghar.

The node is known for its high-rise buildings. Owing to the unexpected outage, the housing societies had to take emergency measures to ensure lifts continued working until electricity was restored.

“I reside in a 30-floor building. Therefore, it is only understandable the kind of concerns residents would have in the absence of lifts. Only one lift was functioning with the help of a generator. I was able to communicate only because the power banks were charged, but by 3 pm I was unsure whether that would survive,” said Sangmeshwar, IT professional and a resident of Sector 35B.

While Sangmeshwar couldn’t attend his office meetings, his immediate neighbours went to Mumbai to their relatives’ house to escape from the uncertainty of when the power would be restored.

Local grocery shop owners expressed concern about their frozen products getting spoiled. “I have not allowed any customer to open the fridge as it has all milk products stored. I could see that most of the ice creams have melted, and I am not sure of the state of the milk pouches,” said Savik Patel, a store owner at Sector 7.

In an official statement, Mamata Pandey, MSEDCL spokesperson, said, “On Wednesday, 11KV feeder line coming from substation at Sectors 27 as well as Sector 35I, Kharghar, failed due to some cable fault. This is a very rare occurrence wherein both the feeder line through which electricity is supplied to the residential areas had developed faults. The repair took some time. Therefore the affected parts were without electricity from 1.50am until 3.45pm.”