Calcutta, June 1 :    Calcutta, June 1:  The city and its suburbs reeled under severe power cuts for the second consecutive day today with the collapse of the CESC?s 250-mw Budge Budge thermal power unit twice, hours after it was brought back in stream after three days. The situation was further compounded by a technical snag at the power utility?s feeder line at Gariahat Road (South) early this morning. Prolonged power cuts were reported from all over the city till late tonight. As a result, the city and its neighbourhood was hit by acute water scarcity as pumps were rendered inoperative. The heat became oppressive as fans and airconditions could not be operated. Among the worst-hit areas were Gariahat, Gol Park, Dhakuria, Fern Road, Jadavpur and Lake Town. Even though the state electricity board supplied an unrestricted 379 mw to the CESC system, a CESC spokesperson said the shortfall shot up to a staggering 150 mw after the Budge Budge unit broke down for the second time at 7.04 pm. The unit, restored at 8.30 pm, was yet to pick up generation till late in the evening. CESC Ltd came under fire today from all quarters as its 250 mw Budge Budge thermal power unit tripped again in exactly the same fashion as it did a month ago, creating a massive shortfall in the city. The Eastern Region Electricity Board (EREB) asked the utility to investigate the cause of Budge Budge collapse. ?It is not abnormal for a power plant to trip. However, when CESC islands itself from the eastern grid, its system is unable to cope due to some reason. This is the second instance. It is obvious that the fault is transient as the voltage dip was not noticed in any other system within the eastern grid. The utility will have to investigate into the reasons of the collapse,? an EREB source said. Senior CESC officials confirmed to the EREB that their system collapse had nothing to do with the high grid frequency and said that they would investigate the matter. But the second consecutive collapse, a little more than a month apart, again after CESC had separated itself from the grid, drew sniggers from regional power utilities who felt that CESC did not have the expertise to manage a plant of the size. The incident happened just as the CESC disconnected itself from the eastern grid as frequency shot up to over 52 at around 2 pm. Within minutes of CESC islanding itself, its system suffered a massive voltage dip and the Budge Budge unit tripped along with the Titagarh power station.