CHENNAI: Despite the government’s promise to ensure uninterrupted power supply, residents of different areas in the city complain about frequent power outages. They say the power cuts last anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Areas affected by regular disruption in power supply include Puzhuthivakkam, Velachery, Valasaravakkam, Kolathur, Ambattur, Madipakkam, KK Nagar, Koyambedu, and Thoraipakkam.
A resident of Puzhuthivakkam, B Aravindh, highlighted that it has become almost impossible to work from homedue to the power cuts. “I could not attend a lot of important video conference meetings and missed many deadlines. I have been struggling to work for at least two hours straight without a power cut,” he said.
Following several complaints about power outages, Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji recently conducted a press meet and assured that there wouldn’t be any power cuts. He blamed the previous government for the menace, saying that they had not maintained the equipments properly.
However, residents complain that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has also been doing the maintenance casuing power shut down. Yet, the outages have not stopped and as a result, those working from home or attending online classes are in a fix.
“We have had more than 40 power cuts in the past one month. I registered numerous online complaints and nobody has ever responded. Also, the landline of local TNEB office has not been functioning for nearly a year now. I have been residing in this area for the past 15 years and am facing this issue for the first time,” said P Sumathi, a resident of Vijayalakshmipuram in Ambattur.
Residents say the power disruption is mostly in the wee hours, between 2 am and 4 am. Some have also been facing voltage fluctuations. As a result, many electronic appliances have been damaged. According to the officials of Tangedco, The problems differ in each area and are mostly technical. Maintenance is done regularly and the problem will soon be cleared, official said