LIVE: Electricity restored in Mumbai, train services to be resumed shortly

17:59 October 12

Humour mills keep ticking amid 'darkness at noon' in Mumbai

Mumbai: As Mumbai remained paralysed for hours on Monday due to a massive power outage, netizens kept the ''humour mill'' on social media ticking.

"Do you have ice-cream in your freezer, Mumbaikar? Eat it now," tweeted a resident from the metropolis.

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra tweeted a video of ''dancing'' pylons, saying, "Mumbai power line trips. Humour lines on the Internet are intact & moving at the speed of light..."

Another Twitter user posted a photo of over two dozen mobile phones being charged in a room having power supply through inverter.

Actor-comedian Vir Das tweeted, "It''s hard to get things done in Mumbai without power. Also...the electricity is gone."

Broadcaster Star Sports tweeted a photo showing rows of empty chairs in a cricket stadium, saying "We know it can be strange without fans. Hang in there Mumbai."

Actor Abhishek Bachchan tweeted a message, which read, "Why is everyone surprised? It is 2020. Someone had to switch the power off."

"Mumbai folks, don't feel alone in this hour of crisis. Patparganj stands in solidarity," another user tweeted.

Rubbing salt in the wound was @SmokingSkills, who tweeted, "#powercut in Mumbai is trending, its the only way Shivsena can stop people from watching Republic TV."

17:15 October 12

Electricity restored in Mumbai, train services to resume shortly

Almost three hours now, the power supply has been restored in many parts of the Mumbai and train services to be resumed shortly. Reportedly, India's financial capital witnessed a major power outage on Monday morning around 10 am onwards, impacting the supply of electricity across the maximum city, Navi Mumbai and Thane.

15:18 October 12

Mumbai power supply to be fully restored in phases

Mumbai and surroundings were hit by a sudden power failure on Monday, affecting daily life. The outage was attributed to a technical failure involving multiple tripping of power transmission lines and supply transformers. After an unprecedented power cut, Maha Transco said that power would be restored to Navi Mumbai and Thane in the next one-and-a-half hours. Meanwhile, the service has been restored in phases.

15:10 October 12

Media staffer, 4 bank employees briefly stuck in office lift

Mumbai: A media staffer and four bank employees were briefly stuck in their office elevator during the massive power outage in Mumbai on Monday morning.

They later managed to open the elevator's door and come out.

According to reports, he got into the elevator in a building in Lower Parel area here around 10.45 am to reach his office for the 11 am bulletin.

Suddenly, the power supply went off and he along with four other bank staffers got stuck in the lift.

Due to unavailability of the mobile network inside the lift, they could not call anyone on phone for help, he said.

The bank staffers who were stuck in the lift started panicking, but he asked them not to get worried.

"We started pressing the lift bell for help. After five to ten minutes, we managed to open the door and come out of the lift. Security guards of the building also reached the spot," he said.

Later, the lift service was resumed with the help of power back up, he added.

While being stuck in the lift, the media staffer also shot a video which went viral on social media.

12:51 October 12

BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal

Mumbai municipal commissioner asks hospitals to keep generators ready

The Mumbai municipal commissioner asked all hospitals to keep diesel generator sets ready in case the power outage in the city lasts for a long duration. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has asked all hospitals to contact their transport garage officers to get enough diesel to operate generators for at least eight hours so that there are no power failures, especially in ICUs. He also asked hospitals to update their respective control room heads about the situation every 30 minutes and directed the disaster management control room and concerned officers to coordinate the operation.

12:36 October 12

Local train operations resume

Hours after Mumbai Suburban train services were disrupted due to power grid failure, operations have reportedly resumed on all three lines. "Power supply to railways is restored. Power to other emergency services like hospitals are also being restored," Maharashtra Power Minister Nitin Raut said.

11:41 October 12

Train services disrupted as power failure hits Mumbai

The power breakdown hit the lifelines of Mumbai -- Central Railway and Western Railway -- with all local trains halting en route till Vasai and Diva. Hapless commuters at many locations jumped down and started walking down to the nearest suburban railway station.

"In view of interruption in Traction power at 10.05 hrs due to grid failure of Tata Power company, services between Churchgate and Borivili are suspended. It shall be resumed as soon as the traction power supply is restored. Commuters are requested to cooperate," an official statement from the Central Railways said.

"Power supply, from MSETCL available at Vasai Road and it has been extended to work essential suburban trains between Borivali to Virar section. Efforts are on to start services in Churchgate-Borivali section. Commuters are requested not to panic and maintain social distancing," it added.

Passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CST), who have been waiting since 10 am, were clueless about the time required for the restoration of power services. "I was travelling to Belapur. I have been waiting here since 10 am. Nobody has told us anything except that there is a power cut and it shall be revived soon," a commuter told a news agency.

Another commuter said, "We are clueless about how long we will have to wait here."

"In view of interruption in Traction power at 10.05 hours due to Grid failure of Tata Power company, services between Churchgate and Borivili are suspended. It shall be resumed as soon as traction power supply is restored," a WR Spokesperson Sumit Thakur said.

However, power supply, from MSETCL was available at Vasai Road and it has been extended to work essential suburban trains between Borivili to Virar section, he added. Efforts were also underway to start services in Churchgate-Borivali section. Commuters were requested not to panic and maintain social distancing.

10:42 October 12

Power outage across Mumbai, train services disrupted

Mumbai (Maharashtra): A major power breakdown crippled Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of Thane, Raigad and Palghar on Monday.

One of the distributor, BEST, said the power supply was "interrupted due to TATA's incoming electric supply failure" at around 10.15 a.m.

All the power companies -- MahaVitaran, Adani, Tata and BEST -- confirmed the development but declined to comment on the reasons.

Efforts were on to restore the supply at the earliest, said an official from the Energy Department.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut assured that power across the city would be restored soon.

"There was some preparation work going on circuit one of the Kalva-Padgha powerhouse, so the complete load was shifted to circuit two. Due to some technical glitch in circuit two, regions between Thane and Mumbai are under power cut," Raut said.

"Our staff is working on it and in an hour or 45 minutes it will be restored," he added.

Meanwhile, due to grid failure, suburban train services in Mumbai were also disrupted, the Central Railways Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) said.

The power failure had other impact like hitting water supply schedules, lifts getting stuck in some buildings, traffic signals leading to chaos on roads, etc.

(With inputs from agencies)