CHENNAI : As part of special arrangements to tackle the Gaja cyclone, Tangedco has said that if heavy rains and winds are experienced, substations in affected districts will be temporarily closed. These include Cuddalore, Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Thiruvarur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari which are predicted to bear the full brunt of the cyclone which is said to cross Cuddalore on Thursday night.
Also, power will be temporarily suspended from 6 pm on Thursday to 6 am on Friday in coastal districts until the cyclone crosses, said media reports. “We haven’t announced a specific time for power shutdown in the districts. Based on the situation we will decide soon,” said an official.Additionally, special teams headed by chief and superintendent engineers in the above eight districts are formed for disaster management, said an official release from Tangedco.
“If climatic conditions worsen in districts down south, substations will be shut until normalcy is restored. In each district,three chief engineers along with a separate team will be overseeing the functioning of the substations,” said an official.
Electricity poles, cables and other spare parts of transformers and junction boxes are stored in enough numbers in case repairs need to be carried out, said the release. Nagapattinam Collector told news persons that 14,000 extra electricity poles are kept on standby in case existing ones need to be replaced.