A massive power outage left thousands of residents in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar Sector-35 and a few other sectors, like 27, 40, without electricity for more than 20 hours, disrupting daily life and raising concerns about the area`s unstable power infrastructure. The blackout began at 4 pm on Tuesday and continued until 12.30 pm on Wednesday, affecting nearly every housing society in Sector 35, with no prior notice or official updates during most of the downtime.

According to officials from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), a fire in the 33KV Adhiraj feeder cable at the Bhingari subdivision caused the disruption. The incident knocked out 126 distribution transformers, shutting down two major substations — TATA-1 and TATA-2 — that supply electricity to the sector.

Rajesh Srivastav, a Bhagshree co-operative housing society resident, said, “What a pitiable situation of the MSEB department. There’s no backup manpower or tools, and yet they charge such high bills. During COVID, they hounded us with inflated bills. Today, who will compensate us for 20 hours of inconvenience? I had an important sales meeting but with no electricity, no water, and a dead phone, it all went to waste.”