Speaker Rahul Narwekar Confronts Government Over Mumbai Power Outages
On Tuesday, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and all-party MLAs confronted the state government at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai over severe eight to 12-hour power outages plaguing the city. During a heated discussion, Narwekar announced an emergency joint meeting and demanded immediate accountability and a permanent resolution from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.
The confrontation occurred during a calling attention motion moved by Congress MLA Amin Patel and BJP MLA Captain R Tamil Selvan. The legislators expressed deep concern over the impact of the prolonged blackouts on Mumbai's residents and businesses.
Speaker Narwekar criticized the BEST management, stating that persistent power failures tarnish Mumbai’s reputation as India’s commercial and financial capital. He noted that the utility had failed to upgrade its infrastructure in advance to meet rising electricity demands.
To address the crisis, Narwekar directed BEST to submit a time-bound roadmap to improve the power supply and upgrade its distribution network. He also ordered the utility to present a report detailing the measures taken to repair technical faults and the response times of its call centers.
Narwekar summoned an urgent joint meeting at Vidhan Bhawan, bringing together Mumbai's elected representatives, the BEST General Manager, the BMC Commissioner, senior utility officers, and state government officials to address the grid's issues.
During the debate, BJP MLA Captain R Tamil Selvan demanded immediate administrative action, highlighting that ordinary citizens and small businesses are suffering massive financial and physical losses due to unannounced power cuts.
Congress MLA Amin Patel alleged that neither the BEST General Manager nor senior engineers answer phone calls from public representatives during blackouts. Patel stated that BEST is facing acute financial stress and lacks the funds to strengthen its network. He demanded the immediate deployment of mobile generator units and advanced fault-finding technology.
Minister of State for Urban Development Madhuri Misal admitted that a historic surge in power load had caused widespread tripping and supply interruptions. Misal assured the assembly that the government has taken serious note of the issue and that BEST is executing high-priority measures to modernize its distribution network.
