DHARMAPURI: Outraged by the incessant power disruptions and low voltage stemming from the Bommidi 110/33KV substation, residents of Bommidi urged the TANGEDCO officials to resolve the issue.
The Bommidi 110/33 KV sub station in Kadathur block supplies electricity to more than 25 villages in the region including areas like V Muthamapatti, KN Pudur, Kethureddipatti, Thalanatham, Kondagarahalli, Morur and other villages. TANGEDCO supplies power to more than 70,000 households, but villages in the area often have power outages for more than 6 hours a day due to the poor power output from the substation.
Farmers stated, "Despite multiple petitions, TANGEDCO has ignored the electricity concerns of people."
Speaking to TNIE, S Vijaykumar, an electrician from KN Pudur said, "In the area around Bommidi, there are over 15,000 people with hut services; under the scheme, these households are provided low-tension electricity supply. But people using this have violated the hut service rules by using refrigerators, air conditioning and other electrical equipment by illegally siphoning power. This has led to an overload of the substation and transformers shut down causing power outages. We have been urging TANGEDCO to conduct an assessment and ensure the dozens of villages in the region get regular power supply. But TANGEDCO has been ignoring our complaints."
B Govindan, a farmer from Kethureddipatti said, "Our borewells are not functioning, we need to water our crops twice everyday. But with this situation, there is not enough power to even water our crops once. While our wells have water, we are unable to utilize it and the low voltage affects farmers' livelihoods. Furthermore, we have reported this during the Agriculture Grievance day meeting and to other forums. Every time, TANGEDCO claims they have resolved the issue. But they do nothing."
R Sakthi, a resident of Bommidi said, "Customers who pay the bills are denied power, but people exploiting a government welfare scheme are benefiting. We urge the administration to ensure to solve the issue. With six hours of power cut, we are not able to feed or water livestock."
TANGEDCO officials in Bommidi said, "There is no possibility of low voltage in the region. TANGEDCO has invested over Rs 300 crores and improved supply. If such a situation persists, we need people to file individual reports so we can identify the power line, post and transformer, where there could be some issues."
