Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
As the mercury shot up, so did the city’s power woes. For the second consecutive day, large parts of city remained in darkness, exposing maharashtra state electricity board maharashtra state electricity distribution company limited (MSEDCL’s) fragile infrastructure and sluggish response.
Over 50% of the city faced outages lasting 12 hours or more on Thursday, with Friday faring no better. Substations struggled under a 40% surge in demand, and critical equipment failed under the strain. Citizens, already battling the heat, were left with no relief no fans, no coolers, no answers. Markets were forced to shut down, daily life halted, and lakhs of rupees in business were lost. Helplines remained unanswered, SMS alerts were never sent, and local MSEDCL offices reportedly offered vague explanations. "People visited in desperation, only to return more frustrated," said Shiv Sena’s district chief Rajendra Janjal.
Outages that hit hard
• Madni Colony: Thursday, 5 pm–11 pm
• Gurudattnagar, Gajanannagar, Vijaynagar: 14-hour cut
• Garkheda, Shivajinagar, Adityanagar: Thursday and Friday stretches
• Deolai, Maulinagar, Naiknagar, Khadi Road: Over 5-hour disruptions
• Pundliknagar & Naregaon: Entire night blackouts
System Strained Beyond Limits
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has 28 substations and 210 feeders servicing 3.6 lakh connections. With daily demand touching 400 MW in peak months far above its capacity of 319 MW the city is running an 18% power deficit.
The primary 132 kV station is outside city limits, overloading transmission lines. Proposals for a second station and modernisation of equipment are pending. Meanwhile, growing residential colonies and rising use of ACs and coolers only worsen the load on the already outdated system.
Relief on Paper
“To ease the burden, two new transmission lines and a 132 kV station at Kada are proposed. We’ll also upgrade 12 substations soon,” assured Manish Thakre, Superintendent Engineer, MSEDCL.