Mumbai, June 2 -- Girgaum and its neighbouring areas in the heart of south Mumbai have been facing prolonged power outages over the past 3-4 days owing to faults in the underground cable network of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), which provides electricity in the area. On Sunday, there was no power in Girgaum, Bhuleshwar, Opera House, Thakurdwar, Kalbadevi and other localities from 1.30am till 11am or later, which prompted former Shiv Sena corporator DIlip Naik and other residents to meet BEST officials on Monday. The residents demanded immediate remedial measures and urgent restoration of normal power supply. "There are at least 50,000 consumers in this area who are facing power outages for the past few days. The BEST is not making enough efforts despite knowing that tall residential and commercial towers are coming up after redevelopment," Naik told Hindustan Times. "Instead, they are claiming that underground cables have been damaged due to work on the Metro-3 corridor." BEST officials, however, said there may be a fault in the cables beneath the railway tracks between Marine Lines and Grant Road, which may have triggered the initial power outages. "The cables are difficult to access as they are located up to 15 feet underneath the railway tracks. The only option is to pull the cables out, which will take time owing to permissions that are required from the railways," explained a BEST official. BEST sources said that while the undertaking had reached out to the railways, it had also put in place a second set of cables as a stop gap measure to ensure Girgaum and neighbouring areas did not face power cuts. "But the new cable network too encountered a fault due to increase in power consumption, which led to Sunday's power cut," the official quoted earlier said. The cables in and around Girgaum were laid in 1985-90 and time-bound plans are underway to replace them, BEST officials said. Girgaum resident D Kulkarni said the area had been seeing power cuts for several days now. "The problem is not just about power outages. Buildings are also unable to draw water to overhead tanks as there is no electricity," he said. Frustrated residents stormed the BEST office at Pathakwadi on two occasions over the past week to express their anger over the situation. On Monday, Naik warned that if there was no immediate improvement in the power supply situation, the Shiv Sena would launch an aggressive raasta-roko campaign. BEST Committee Chairperson Trishna Vishwasrao has directed officials to restore normal electricity supply in Girgaum on priority basis and take urgent action to provide relief to residents, officials said. BEST sources said complaints of power outage due to cable faults had gone up in recent months, largely owing to increased demand for electricity. Around 7,500 complaints were received in 2025, which was 1,000 more than the complaints received in 2024, officials said....