Possibility of sabotage can't be ruled out in Mumbai power outage: Min

Passengers walk on a railway track after trains got stranded due to a major power cut in several areas after grid failure in Mumbai on October 12. Pic/AFP

Maharashtra energy minister Nitin Raut on Wednesday said that the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out in the power outage incident in Mumbai on October 12.

"Possibility of a sabotage cannot be ruled out in respect of Power trip that resulted in blackout on Monday dated 12.10.20 at Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane.," Raut said in a tweet.

Addressing the media, he said that the interim report of a probe committee set up by the state government will submit its report in a week and its recommendations would be implemented.

Besides, a central team which came here on Tuesday is also probing into the incident that left large parts of MMR without power for periods ranging from 2-9 hours, playing havoc with the people, railways, traffic, business and commercial activities.

"There are certain protocols that must be adhered to whenever any maintenance work is taken up. We shall investigate whether these protocols were followed or not by the officials of MahaVitaran… However, we don't rule out the possibility of sabotage or foul play and stringent action will be taken against those found guilty," Raut asserted.

Large parts of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai had faced a power outage on Monday, due to which several suburban and long-distance trains were held up.

According to Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), the unprecedented electricity cut that was reported after 10 am was because of the failure of a power grid. Apart from local trains, traffic signals at some areas were also affected.

The power supply for essential services was resumed in two hours, while other pockets started getting power in a phase-wise manner.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered an immediate probe into the large-scale outage.

The power breakdown had 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.

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

The city had last seen a massive power outage in June 2018.

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