CHENNAI: About 1,000 families residing at the Ozone Greens apartment complex in Perumbakkam have been struggling without continuous power supply for over eight years due to the delay in establishing an electricity substation. The issue came to light on Friday when more than 100 homeowners staged a protest inside the premises of Ozone Group in Anna Nagar.
According to residents, seven towers of the apartment complex, which has a total of 24 towers of 19 floors each, lack power connections. “The builder has not provided connections to the apartments till date, and instead they have been providing electricity by running diesel generators.
However, they cut the power supply frequently. We are denied electricity for 5-12 hours every day,” one of the agitated residents said. He added that they are often forced to use the stairs during emergencies as lifts would not work due to lack of power.
The protesting residents also said the residential towers that lack power supply have not obtained completion certificates. As per the building norms, utility services including electricity should be provided only after obtaining completion certificates. “While two towers have received partial completion certificates, five others lack the same,” they said, and alleged that the office bearers of the Ozone Group are not available to rectify the problem.
When contacted, Prakasam Jagan, CEO of Ozone Group, said the process to hand over land to the electricity department for the establishment of the substation is ongoing. “The project was developed in two phases with 12 towers each. Power connections have been provided to all the 12 towers in phase 1 and five towers in phase 2. We are trying to provide connections to the remaining seven towers,” he explained.
Regarding the substation, he said the company gave an acre of land to establish it during the previous government but it was denied due to issues in survey numbers. “Now, we have identified another acre of land and the gift deed will be executed in a week to transfer the land to the electricity department. The present government is moving the files speedily and the power connections will be provided in three months,” he assured.
The builder further stated that they spent more than Rs 1 crore a month to run the generators and collect charges from the residents for the units of power used. “We charge a government rate and collect only Rs 15 lakh per month against the expenses of Rs 1 crore. We have spent more than Rs 68 crore during the last eight years to provide power. The present issue is due to increased consumption owing to summer,” he added.
While Prakasam Jagan maintained that the lack of completion certificate is not the reason for the present power issue, a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) official said the authority will look into the issue.
A senior Tangedco official said they have ordered an inquiry into the incident and directed to submit a report at the earliest to look into means to provide regular electricity supply to the residents.
