CHENNAI: In a bid to ensure faster restoration of electricity during unexpected night-time outage, Electricity Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar on Wednesday launched 10 high-level monitoring teams and 125 special power restoration patrol vehicles at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) headquarters in Chennai.
The minister also announced the establishment of 77 new Fuse of Call (FOC) centres, increasing the total number of power restoration centres to 147 across Chennai and its suburban areas.
Speaking to reporters after the launch, Nirmal Kumar said the 10 monitoring teams, headed by senior IAS officers, directors and managing directors of power utilities, have been deployed across various regions to conduct inspections and supervise night patrol operations.
To strengthen emergency response measures, the minister said five special Mobile Response Teams (MRT) have been kept ready. In addition, four specially equipped vehicles for detecting and repairing underground high-voltage cable faults and seven vehicles for attending faults in high-voltage and extra high-voltage overhead transmission lines have been deployed.
Referring to the recent power disruptions reported in several parts of Chennai and its suburbs, Nirmal Kumar said inspections revealed while some outage were caused by damaged power lines and technical faults, there were also instances of deliberate tampering by anti-social elements.
“Officials found that power fuses had been removed intentionally in certain locations, resulting in repeated disruptions in electricity supply,” he said. The minister said a detailed inquiry is under way as similar incidents have been reported repeatedly in some areas.
In Avadi, two persons were identified and arrested based on CCTV footage for allegedly tampering with power fuses. Surveillance has been intensified in vulnerable locations to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
Clarifying that the state is not facing any power shortage, Nirmal Kumar said Tamil Nadu has adequate power reserves to meet demand. Though some areas experienced temporary disruptions during peak hours following a recent decline in wind power generation, the outage were largely due to technical issues in the distribution network and not because of a shortage of electricity.
To expedite emergency maintenance works, the minister announced enhanced financial powers for field-level officials. Chief engineers can now sanction emergency expenditure up to Rs 1 lakh, superintending engineers up to Rs 75,000, executive engineers up to Rs 50,000, assistant executive engineers up to Rs 25,000, and assistant engineers and junior engineers up to Rs 10,000. Additional expenditure approvals will also be granted whenever required, he added.
Power for officers
To expedite emergency maintenance works, Minister Nirmal Kumar announced enhanced financial powers for field-level officials. Chief engineers can now sanction emergency expenditure up to `1 lakh and superintending engineers can sanction up to `75,000
