Locals set power office ablaze in Nalasopara

Piqued at the repetitive, over 10-hour load shedding in the last four days, residents of Sayukta Nagar and Chandan Naka in Nalasopara (East) set the divisional office of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) on fire on Sunday midnight. No casualty was reported.

Residents complained that the long, frequent outages led to a shortage of water at home. Despite several complaints being lodged with the electricity board, no action was reportedly taken.

After a day-long power shutdown on Sunday, residents gathered at the Chandan Naka late in the evening and blocked the road in protest. After a powercut again around midnight, some residents approached the divisional office of the MSEB. On failing to get a satisfactory explanation for the blackout, some locals lost their cool. They ransacked the office, and set the furniture and some electric meters on fire.

“We cannot store our sea catch since ice is not available because of the powercuts. We don’t even get drinking water, as we cannot run the water pumps. It’s becoming difficult to carry out daily activities like cooking and washing clothes,” complained Shanta Shanu, a resident of Nalasopara.

Shriram Koregaonkar, senior Inspector of the Nalasopara police station, said the police personnel had to disperse the residents when they tried to block traffic at Chandan Naka, Sopara village and at Neel Mori Naka. There were also attempts to hold similar raasta rokos in Manikpur, Virar and Vasai villages.