Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar warns Sonia Sethi over Mumbai outages
After parts of Mumbai went without power for up to three days, state legislators called out the city's electricity provider, BEST, for not handling the crisis better.
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has set up an urgent meeting with BEST's top officials on July 1, 2026, and warned that if they don't offer real solutions, General Manager Sonia Sethi will have to answer questions directly in the assembly.
Officials blame heat, lawmakers blame best
The outages hit neighborhoods like Dadar Parsi Colony, Girgaon, and Kings Circle.
Officials blamed record heat waves this year, but the rise in demand from 907 MW to 1,010 MW occurred in 2025, which overwhelmed the system.
But many lawmakers weren't convinced and said BEST should've planned ahead.
Some pointed out staff shortages and money problems at BEST as major issues; one legislator even threatened a hunger strike if things don't improve soon.