Eastern Freeway tunnels face repeated power cuts

Lights inside the twin 16-km-long Eastern Freeway tunnels have been out for more than a week resulting in motorists going through the tunnels in pitch darkness. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the cables that supply electricity to the tunnels are being lifted by miscreants leading to the darkness. The civic body has filed complaints with the local police station thrice in the past month, however, the problem persists.

A civic official from M-East Ward, said, "The electricity supply was normal a few days ago, however, there have been instances wherein anti-social elements from the area are robbing the cables that supply electricity to the tunnels." The official added, "We repaired the cables several times but the incident keeps repeating. This time around, some maintenance work is going on in the power supply section due to which the tunnels are in the dark. The electricity supply will resume in the next 10 days."

Similar incidents have been reported in 2015 and 2016 as well. However, this time the BMC claims that there is no problem in the electricity supply by the private operator but technical issues.

The twin tunnels in which lights are missing are located on the Chembur-end of the Freeway that starts from P D'mello Road.

Yagnesh Vora, a resident of Dadar, said, "I often use the Eastern Freeway but this issue is not something new and pops up often. Authorities should take steps to stop the lifting of cables if that is the reason behind the electricity supply going off."