Mumbai : Around 22,000 residents of Girgaum, long troubled by repeated power outages over the past two months, are expected to get relief with a permanent corrective measure. The work has been expedited to complete the laying of brand new 33 KV huge cables by this weekend, announced a senior BEST official to the media on Thursday.The task is aimed at resolving the recurring faults that have affected Girgaum and parts of Malabar Hill, where residents have reported longer and more frequent power cuts in the last two months. The cable replacement forms part of a Rs 20 crore amount sanctioned for an action plan intended to prevent such outages.An official said work was in progress at Marine Lines to lay 850 metres of new underground cable across the railway track and on both sides of the track. This stretch is part of an ongoing cable replacement scheme and will complete the last remaining patch in the corridor. The BEST has already laid 3.7 km of cable under the same scheme. The work involved challenges as the excavation was as deep as 14 feet to get the cables to pass securely through an existing pipe under the railway tracks near Marine Lines station.The Girgaum intervention is part of a larger push by BEST to address pressure on Mumbai’s ageing underground electricity system. Confronted with a spike in outages and a large backlog of cable faults, the undertaking has proposed a manpower augmentation plan that includes recruiting nearly 700 workers to strengthen repair and maintenance operations across the island city. Around 200 workers are expected to be deployed by month-end in the first phase, with many assigned to excavation and cable-laying, and others tasked with providing temporary power supply during outages and carrying out restoration work.Officials said the city’s network has nearly 2,500 cable faults that have been awaiting permanent repair over the past few years. To improve response times and reduce strain on existing facilities, BEST has proposed a new fault control centre at Tardeo-Pathakwadi. A separate fault control office was inaugurated this week in D ward, staffed with 84 personnel, to cater to consumers in Tardeo, Mumbai Central and parts of Grant Road and E ward.
