Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar on Tuesday blamed "deliberate sabotage" for frequent power outages in Chennai and its suburbs, claiming that some people had intentionally pulled fuses or disrupted power supply to provoke public protests.
He said officials were analysing the frequency and locations of power failures to identify suspicious and repetitive patterns that pointed to "deliberate sabotage" rather than technical faults.
"Complaints are being filed against individuals caught tampering with power infrastructure with some arrests already reported," he said in response to questions from reporters about the recurring outages and the protests that followed.
Prolonged power failures on Saturday night left residents in several parts of Chennai and its suburbs without electricity for hours, forcing many to spend a sleepless night.
In areas including Medavakkam, Pallikaranai, Perumbakkam, Sholinganallur and stretches of the East Coast Road, residents staged protests after outages lasting between two and four hours.
Protesters alleged that the power cuts had become a recurring problem. However, a senior official of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board said temporary disruptions had been caused by tripping and distribution-related issues.
Kumar, who also holds the Energy Resources portfolio, said the government was relying on public cooperation to report suspicious individuals or activities, particularly in areas without CCTV coverage.
"The officials are utilising existing CCTV footage to identify individuals tampering with equipment, such as pulling fuses," Kumar said and stressed that public vigilance was crucial in areas lacking CCTV coverage.
He said real-time updates on power failures were being shared on social media through the Minnagam portal.
The minister said the government had increased the number of ground-level teams and stepped up night patrols. "Additional teams of 20 persons each have been deployed in areas like north Chennai, Perambur and Villivakkam to provide immediate relief and restore power and more staff have been assigned to patrol during the nights," he said.
Kumar said the Minnagam system tracked complaints received through phone calls and social media and coordinated with the distribution department to address them.
On Monday, the minister said CCTV footage from Avadi had shown unidentified individuals opening pillar boxes and removing fuses, causing power supply interruptions to consumers and financial losses to the state-owned utility.
