Blaze blacks out high-rises in Thane, residents troubled

Thane: Thousands of families, including office goers and the elderly residing in luxurious Ghodbunder road residential high-rises, endured significant inconvenience after an abrupt, unprecedented power outage triggered by a fire in a crucial supply line in the vicinity on Monday. The incident left a majority stranded in their homes or in society corridors for over eight hours as elevators and water pumps ceased functioning.
Residents had to endure the sweltering October heat since morning as inverter back-up in most homes depleted rapidly, while those who chose to work from home encountered challenges with disrupted WiFi connections.Housewives also expressed frustration as domestic helpers and cooks refused to ascend stairs, while elderly individuals who had ventured out for morning walks found themselves stranded in the society corridors due to non-functional elevators.
The family of a senior citizen from a complex in Owale expressed concern as he waited in the society corridor for several hours in the heat to reach his 29th-floor residence.
"Many societies had never anticipated power cuts to persist for such an extended duration and, consequently, had minimal generator back-up for pumping water to overhead tanks or even powering elevators. A few elderly residents who had ventured out were compelled to have lunch in their society corridors as they were incapable of climbing up to their homes," stated former local Shiv Sena corporator, Siddharth Owalekar, who coordinated with societies to provide assistance to stranded residents.
Sagar Dani, a resident of Mahavir Kalpavruksha, said that his society ended up spending over Rs 20,000 on diesel solely to ensure the basic elevators were operational. "We have a few ailing residents and pregnant women who also suffered inconvenience due to this sudden disruption. Those working from home attempted to charge their gadgets from the common generators," he said, questioning the MSEDCL mismanagement.
The incident also impacted the business of several commercial establishments and restaurants that lost revenue and were forced to stop accepting orders after back-ups drained out within an hour. Yasin Tadvi, in-charge at the Thane regional disaster management cell, informed that the fire was reported in an electric cable around 8:30am near Waghbil junction. waste accumulated at the stretch. Rescue teams managed to control the blaze.
MSEDCL officials stated that a detailed investigation into the incident will be conducted.