5 lakh power users affected as equipment trips at Dharavi

Disruption in power supply at various places in Mumbai on Tuesday evening affected nearly 5 lakhs consumers across the island city and suburbs. The problem started around 4.50 pm following a technical failure at Dharavi substation.

The island city was most affected as Tata Power supplies to the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport which has a base of 10 lakh consumers. Tata Power itself has 5.5 lakh consumers across the city and suburbs. Even those staying in suburbs - which is also supplied by Reliance Infrastructure - was partly affected.

"There were continuous power fluctuations and all of a sudden power cuts too," said J Kulkarni, a resident of Shivaji Park.

Sources said that an extra high voltage equipment tripped at Dharavi receiving station. "This resulted in loss of power supply to consumers in parts of Central and South Mumbai. Supply was restored through alternate network at 5.52 pm," said a Tata Power official.

BEST said the problem lasted between 30 and 90 minutes. A Reliance Energy official said, "Due to abnormality in Tata Power Dharavi Grid, customers in Bandra, Khar, Santacruz, Chembur and Chunabhatti were affected for about an hour."