Surprise holiday for students, half day for professionals mark power cut in Navi Mumbai

Power failure was witnessed in several areas of Navi Mumbai and Panvel, too, since mid-morning on Monday, affecting online schools, clinics and people working from home, among others.

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The power failure started at around 11am and lasted for different durations in different areas. The power supply was not resumed in a few areas even by 6 pm on Monday.

With the schools going online during the pandemic, most school students got the day off following the black out.

Yukti Rajan, 37, whose son is in Class 2 of Reliance Foundation School, said, “My son Prithvi has online classes from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm. At around 11.20 am, we got a message from school about the cancellation of classes due to power failure. The kids were overjoyed as this was an unexpected holiday for him.”

Gouri Bhattacharya, vice-principal of Podar International School (CBSE), Nerul, said, “We had to cancel the online class owing to the power cut. The message was sent to the parents via our internal communication system.”  

At Ryan International School, Sanpada, the exams had to be postponed. “Since students can’t submit the online forms, the exam has been postponed. The later dates have not been declared yet,” a parent said.

Professionals working from home since the lockdown had to juggle between laptops and mobile phones. “The power cut had all the hues of the Monday morning blues. It was like a half day for offices and schools. Laptop and mobile batteries were dead. Electrical appliances switched off, and there was not much to do during this forced lockdown,” Vashi resident, Nikita Rode, an Assistant VP, Human Resources with an insurance company, said.

The duration of power cut ranged from one hour to several hours in different areas in the city.

While the private clinics were hit due to the power cut, the hospitals were mostly unaffected. Dr Mehrunisa Khan, 39, who runs dental clinic at Sector 10, Vashi, said, “I start at 10 am and finish by 1pm. After all sanitisation, I reach home by 1.30 pm. On Monday, everything got delayed. I reached home only by 3pm, that too after cancelling a few appointments as all my equipment works on power.”