The challenges in the NIBM Annexe area go beyond bad roads, traffic woes and lack of proper drainage. On Monday, the residents were forced to live without power for more than 24 hours. They claim that frequent power cuts occur in the area as the electricity infrastructure fails to keep pace with the development and increasing residential projects.
Raj Singh, a resident of Raheja society and also an activist, said, "We are deprived of basic amenities like proper roads in our area. The residents of NIBM Annexe are facing a power cut for more than 24 hours. The work of road construction is going on, and they dug up the entire area. The electric cable was cut during the digging, due to which there's a power cut and people are forced to live in the dark. The business has suffered due to lack of power. Our society has a strong power backup; therefore, we are not impacted much, but the other residents in our area have to face a hard time due to power failure."
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Aquib Shaikh, owner of a cafe in the NIBM Annexe area, expressed his ordeal and loss in the business due to the power failure in the area. He said, "I opened my cafe at noon yesterday, and there was no light. My freezer started to defrost, and by evening, the food stored in the freezer had spoiled. I incurred a loss of around ₹10,000-12,000. The light was restored late at night after 10pm. Apart from that, there was some renovation work going on in my cafe, and because of the power loss, the work was stopped and I had to pay the labourers their charge. So this power cut bore a hole in my pocket. And it made a huge loss of money and business."
On the condition of anonymity, an owner who runs a restaurant situated in the area said, "Because there was no light in our area, my business was down. My business was heavily impacted as during the peak hours there was no light and the customers had to go. During the daytime, you still manage, but in the evening, you can't. Most customers had to return as there was no light. This is not the first time that this has happened; earlier also, it happened six times, and we haven't had electricity for more than 12 hours, and our business has been heavily impacted."
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Pallavi Lokhande, a resident of the NIBM area, said, "The power outage is common here these days due to a lot of construction activities going on. I'm a working professional, and the power cut impacted my work. I had to log in using my phone. I even made a complaint to MSEDCL."
Meanwhile, speaking to The Free Press Journal, Garje Ramakant, Assistant Engineer, MSEDCL, NIBM area, said, "We received a complaint from a resident at around 4:30pm regarding a power cut. As soon as we got the information, we sent our team. The damaged electric cable wire was fixed, and the power was restored. Very few consumers were affected, and the issue occurred because the contractor while digging the road as he ruptured the electric cable. They didn't take accountability and inform us."