Maharashtra government orders probe into Mumbai power cut

MUMBAI: Maharashtra government on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the massive power outages faced by several parts of south and central Mumbai yesterday.

An in-depth inquiry would be conducted by principal secretary-energy of the state government, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said after a cabinet meeting this afternoon.

"The state cabinet has taken a serious cognizance of the power failure in Mumbai yesterday," Chavan tweeted.

Several parts of south and central Mumbai had faced massive power outages after a unit of Tata Power's Trombay plant, which primarily supplies power to the city, tripped.

Tata Power, which was allowed to distribute power in the island city last month, said the tripping forced it to switch off several feeders.

The tripping resulted in load reduction in Parel, Mahalaxmi, Dharavi, Chembur, and Grant Road areas of south Mumbai.

This impacted controlling loading on the 220Kv Kharghar-Nerul-Sonkar-Trombay tie line which supplies power to the city.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Vertigo: Spin in your head and sway in stride

MUMBAI: He that is giddy thinks the world turns around. Little did the writer know that this could be used to describe vertigo — a frequent health enigma encountered in modern metro lifestyles. Adapted from Latin, vertigo means a whirling or spinning movement in which the patient inappropriately experiences the perception of motion. A symptom complex comprising of recurring short spells of acute giddiness associated with change in posture (arising from a lying position or straightening up after bending ), it can be associated with nausea, vomiting and ear symptoms.

A common symptom, afflicting one fourth of the population at some stage or the other but more with increasing age and twice more frequent in women.

Usually ascribed to a malfunction of the labyrinthine system— the balancing apparatus in the inner ear, vertigo can emanate from various causes. While viral afflictions are the commonest (associated with cold, cough and blocked ears), conditions like cervical spondylosis, excess alcohol intake, head injury and use of certain drugs can precipitate vertigo. Of course, central causes in the brain affecting the balancing centre can result in vertigo along with other paralytic symptoms.

Ranging from occasional mild spinning in the head, to a violent rollercoaster like shake requiring immobilization and support, vertigo can be repetitive and chronic in susceptible patients. When associated with severe vomiting and tinnitus (ringing sound in the ear), it is called Meniere's disease.

In today's humdrum life, vertigo is also stress induced. Whether it is the constant posturing in front of the laptop or the incessant use of cellphone or even the perennial adrenaline-fuelled mental overdrive, patients keep experiencing inexplicable giddiness.

A transient but notable cause of vertigo is motion sickness which can be due to winding roads and even fast and long drives. Vertigo from jet-lag is often self limiting. Exposure to loud, nearly deafening music or sound for a sustained period (discos, sitting at a show in front of monstrous speakers or even working without rest in the engine room etc) can surely knock the stuffing out of your balancing system.

Quite often patients convalescing from prolonged illnesses in bed ( orthopaedic injuries, long fevers and surgical cases), experience giddiness when they resume activity and often the acclimatization can be frustrating till the imbalance wears off.

Most available drugs are targeted at correcting the fluid movement in the semicircular canals in the ear. Quite often, chronic patients seem to find solace in regularly taking these drugs. In addition, neck and postural exercises, muscle toning and even yoga can play a role in alleviation. Obviously expelling the precipitating factor is paramount in treatment. One assumes that both patient and doctor have initially ruled out other causes of giddiness like blood pressure etc.

A trivial but irritating symptom, vertigo can often be the 'David' in a Goliath's life and take away his free mobility. Vertigo patients need meticulous treatment and persevering care for no amount of "Mardaani" can tame this 'Chakkar' easily.

(Dr Hemant Thacker is a consultant physician & cardiometabolic specialist at south Mumbai Hospitals. Email address: dochpt@gmail.com)

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Worli's RTO test track scrapped

MUMBAI: Following a request from the traffic police the Tardeo RTO will scrap the test track set up at Worli seaface from Wednesday.

"There were traffic bottlenecks in the area due to hundreds of taxis queuing up for the road tests (for recalibrated meters). It is also a prominent route for cars accessing the BWSL and there is also lot of VVIP movement," said a senior RTO official. "We received a request from the traffic police that we should shift the track at some other place. So, we decided to retain only two tracks - one near Anik depot and the other near Bhakti Park at Wadala," the officer stated.

When contacted, regional transport officer K T Golani said the tests will be conducted at Wadala Anik and Bhakti Park tracks from 8am daily.

The RTOs has so far conducted test tracks for nearly 9,000 taxis while more than 40,000 autos have the meters with new fares.

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All you want to know about Mumbai blackout

What you need to know about the tripping of Unit No 5 in Tata Power's Trombay plant on Tuesday, which affected Sion, Dadar, Mahim, Parel, Prabhadevi and BKC.

What does "power unit trip" mean?

According to Vivek Agarwal, professor of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, unit tripping is a basic safety feature built into a power system that involves automatic disconnection of the power generator unit to avoid dangerous conditions like thermal overload, short circuit and faults in the grid, among other reasons.

What causes a power unit to trip?

There are a number of circumstances that can lead to unit tripping — a fault in the generator, overvoltage, overloading (when more power is drawn than the rating), reverse power flow, failures of auxiliary units like boilers and cooling systems.

Tata Power's official line is this: "the tripping resulted in load shedding in Parel, Mahalaxmi, Dharavi and Chembur areas of Mumbai to control loading on 220 KV Kharghar-Nerul-Sonkar-Trombay tie-line. What does this mean?

Neighbouring power grids in the city are linked to each other by transmission lines (these are referred to as tie-lines) so that they may "share" electricity. Control loading or load frequency control regulates the flow of electricity between these linked grids while maintaining the frequency of power transmitted to the end user (in India, this is 50 Hz, a legacy of British rule). If a power unit trips, the electricity supplier begins to "disconnect" end users in order to ease the load on that particular grid - this also maintains the equilibrium between the various neighbourhoods linked by tie-lines. India's coal crisis explained

How often has this unit tripped?

Nine times since January 2013.

What's next?

According to Ashok Sethi, Vice President, Tata Power, although "a power grid could trip at any moment given various factors", the unit in question "has been fully restored". He maintained that he doesn't foresee the problem recurring, all things being equal.

How much power does Mumbai consume every day?

On average, the city draws nearly 2,082 MW per day.

How much of the city's electricity needs are met by Tata Power?

The company supplies 932 MW to BEST, which caters to south Mumbai, from Colaba to Mahim and Sion.

And how much does Reliance Infrastructure supply?

Reliance, which has plants at Dahanu and Butibori in Nagpur provides 1,000 MW, and covers north Mumbai, from Bandra to Dahisar and Kurla to Vikhroli.

What about the eastern suburbs?

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd., covers the section between Kanjur Marg and Mulund.

I have a Reliance connection, why did I lose electricity if there was a problem with Tata Power?

While the two companies compete with each other in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has mandated that in order to best serve the needs of the city, the two must share infrastructure - in particular, distribution networks. This means that a breakdown in one supply system affects operations of the other.

Coal war

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has attributed the power crisis in the state in general and the city in particular to the shortfall in coal supplied to the country's thermal power plants. "I have been warning the central government about this impending crisis," he said. "During a recent meeting with Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, at which the state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar [who also holds the energy portfolio] was present, I expressed my concerns about the coal situation."

A little over a month ago, Goyal declared that the country had "only 4 days worth of coal reserves in hand". According to a March 2014 report by Punebased analysts Prayas Energy Group, the continuing uncertainty and unreliability in domestic coal production and in the pricing of imported coal is likely to impact consumers through a move towards very high power tariffs.

"There is an acute shortage of around 12-15% in power generation in India," said HS Ramakrishna, a former senior official at the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. and senior advisor to the Bangalore-based energy think tank Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).

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Rail fracture disrupts rail traffic in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A rail fracture reported between Diva-Mumbra stations on the up slow line around 10:30am on Wednesday disrupted peak hour rail traffic towards Mumbai.

A Kalyan local was held up on the stretch while other slow trains behind the stranded train were diverted on up fast line towards Thane.

The line was finally cleared at 11:05 am and trains running with speed restrictions on this line. Services on the main line are running late by 10-15 minutes because of the incident.

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Finalize seat sharing by September 10, Republican Party of India tells Shiv Sena-BJP

MUMBAI: In an indication of tension in the BJP and Shiv Sena-led opposition alliance 'Mahayuti' in Maharashtra, Ramdas Athawale's RPI (A) on Wednesday demanded clarity on seat-sharing, saying that it would reconsider its decision to be a part of the alliance otherwise.

"We have long been demanding that BJP and Shiv Sena should give at least 14-15 seats to us for the assembly. But there has been a complete stalemate over the seat-sharing. If there is no final decision by September 10, we will be forced to reconsider our decision to be a part of Mahayuti," said Arjun Dangle, state spokesperson of RPI, here.

The saffron alliance, which put up a robust show in the Lok Sabha election — winning 42 of the 48 constituencies — is yet to seal the seat-sharing pact for the 288-member assembly, amid reports of differences between Sena and BJP.

Dangle added that there had been "discontent" among the party workers over the "lax attitude" of BJP-Sena with regard to seat-sharing, and final decision on future course of action will be taken at RPI's state executive meet on September 10.

"We have only demanded seats where we can field strong contenders. Our workers need time to prepare themselves for the elections," Dangle added.

Asked about reports that RPI may get only five seats, Dangle said the party will not settle for anything less than 14-15 seats and he "hoped" that BJP and Sena will give it the respect it deserves.

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Loadshedding in several parts of Mumbai continues

MUMBAI: The power cut continues across several parts of Mumbai.

A statement issued by Tata Power said, "Tata Power would like to inform that at 9.45am, the power supply was affected due to tripping of Unit number 5 of Trombay power station. This tripping has resulted in load reduction of Parel, Mahalaxmi, Dharavi, Chembur and Grant Road to control loading on 220Kv Khargar, Nerul, Sonkar and Trombay tie line. We are working towards an early resolution and will ensure power supply to these areas at the earliest."

The statement further stated, "We would like to reiterate Tata Power's commitment to providing reliable and 24X7 quality power to the city of Mumbai."

A senior official from BEST said, "Tata Power had informed us that the Unit 5 is expected to come on steam by 2.30pm. But the loadshedding continues due to some technical problem at Trombay's unit number 5."

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Central Railways services affected

MUMBAI: With services on slow corridors being suspended after a Over Head Equipment (OHE) broke near Vikhroli, Central Railways commuters had a bad start on Tuesday.

A CR spokesperson said, "The OHE broke down between Vikhroli and Ghatkopar at 7.15am because of which services on the slow corridor were diverted on fast track between Mulund and Matunga."

Commuters were neither able to alight not board the trains at Kanjurmarg, Nahur and Vidyavihar stations as these destinations do not have platforms for fast services.

Many trains were cancelled, while those in operation were running late by 20 to 30 minutes.

BJP leader Vinod Tawde tweeted, "I have requested CR general manager to make arrangement for bus services because of the disruption."

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HC notice to Maharashtra govt on Sealink deaths

MUMBAI: Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the State Home Department on a public interest litigation regarding the increasing incidents of suicides on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.

The court also issued notice to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation and Mumbai Entry Point Infrastructure Development, the authorities responsible for maintenance, surveillance and toll collection on the bridge connecting Mumbai city with suburbs. The bridge was commissioned in 2009.

A division bench of Justice P V Hardas and Justice B P Colabawalla heard a public interest litigation by activist Ketan Titodkar seeking measures to safeguard the bridge and "prevent it from turning into a suicide point and a possible terror target."

Tirodkar's PIL cites loopholes in the security provided by MSRDC and MEPID."The Bandra Worli Sea Link is fast becoming the favoured suicide spot for disheartened citizens," the petition states, referring to incidents of suicide.

Tirodkar seeks better and more CC TVs from the present 6 CC TVs, that MEPID and the MSRDC pay compensation to the government for failing to install sufficient security and surveillance infrastructure and that an FIR be registered for criminal negligence on their part.

MSRDC advocate sought time to file its reply. The matter will be heard after two weeks.

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Power outage hits several parts of Mumbai

MUMBAI: Power outage hit several parts of the city, including offices and residential premises in the city, due to tripping of a power generation unit on Tuesday morning.

Sources said that Unit 5 of Tata Power Company's generating station at Trombay, supplying 500 MW power to Mumbai had tripped in the morning.

"As a result Tata Power Company switched off certain feeders supplying power to Sewree, Dadar and Mahalaxmi area. This resulted in loadshedding, inconveniencing several citizens," sources said.

Tata Power said the tripping of a unit at one of its power stations in Mumbai reduced the supply at 09.45am (0415 GMT) to various central and suburban parts of the city, with the problem yet to be resolved by early afternoon.

"We are working towards an early resolution and will ensure power supply to these areas at the earliest," an emailed statement said.

"We would like to reiterate Tata Power's commitment to providing reliable and 24X7 quality power to the city of Mumbai."
The power cuts in Mumbai come amid concerns about wider blackouts in India due to a shortage of coal and underlines the challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces in improving the country's creaking infrastructure.

(With inputs from agencies)

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