CHENNAI: Frequent power outages during night continued in parts of Chennai and its suburbs, triggering protests and road blockades, on Monday night.
Residents gathered on the streets in Madipakkam, Ambattur, Arumbakkam and several other areas demanding restoration of power supply. Despite repeated complaints, the problem has persisted in many parts of the city, including the Chief Minister’s own Perambur constituency along with parts of MKB Nagar, Avadi and Ayanavaram.
At MKB Nagar, a transformer caught fire on Monday night, leading to an autorickshaw parked near it also being engulfed by the flames. Power supply was disrupted for over ten hours, affecting about 500 houses in the area, residents said.
Responding to the issue recently, Electricity Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar attributed the outages to the theft of High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) fuses. He said unidentified persons had allegedly stolen around 150 to 200 HRC fuses from various locations, affecting power distribution in several areas.
Apart from residential localities, a power outage was also reported at a government hospital in Chengalpattu on Monday. Talking to reporters, health minister KG Arunraj said discussions had been held with both Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and the Electricity Minister to ensure hospitals do not face power cuts and that adequate backup facilities are available if outages do occur.
Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) Chairman and Managing Director J Radhakrishnan also told TNIE that the disruptions were mainly caused by tripping incidents and distribution-related issues.
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters on Tuesday that the previous DMK government had failed to implement power projects and depended heavily on costly private power purchases. Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi president T Velmurugan the Tamil Nadu government to explain the reasons behind the frequent power cuts.