CHENNAI: A power outage that lasted roughly 15 minutes plunged the offices of several ministers on the first floor of the four-storey secretariat main building into darkness on Monday morning. The outage in the corridors of power has sparked concerns at a time when incidents of power disruptions and shutdowns are being reported across the state.
In an official statement, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) attributed the disruption to a technical fault in phase B of one of the four electrical switches supplying power to the first floor of the building. Power supply to all other floors was not interrupted, it added.
The affected portion of the secretariat building houses the chambers of ministers K A Sengottaiyan, N Anand, P Venkatraman, and K Vignesh, and over 20 other rooms. “Even with the UPS backup power, most of the computers and lights turned off,” an official at the secretariat told TNIE.
Following the outage, officials from the Public Works Department, which manages the electrical infrastructure in the secretariat complex, rectified the defect in the electrical switch and the power supply was fully restored by 11.25 am, the TNEB added.
Meanwhile, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said the power outages, which affected almost every town in the state and even the events attended by ministers, have now hit the seat of the state government. He pointed out the government’s initial plans to purchase an additional 2,000 MW and later to procure 4,500 MW to address the shortfall, and said that power disruptions continued regardless. He urged the state government to act on a war footing to resolve the ongoing power crisis.