The residents of New Colony and Nehru Nagar in Chromepet are caught in a tangle of sweltering days and sleepless nights, thanks to unscheduled power cuts.
The residents complain that though the power cuts lasts only for a short time, the frequent outages are causing much inconvenience, especially at night. “The unannounced power cuts have become a regular feature in Nehru Nagar and New Colony for the past one week. The power cut starts after 10.30 p.m. and is restored only after midnight. Each time it takes a minimum of two hours to restore power. With the temperatures soaring each day, the outages are only adding to our misery,” says V. Santhanam, president of New Colony Residents Welfare Society.
According to Santhanam, in the last 10 days, power supply has been regularly cut between 3 and 5 p.m. and on Monday, there was no power between 9.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m.
“Last month too, we faced similar power outages and the members of New Colony RWA met all the assistant engineers Electricity Department in Chromepet area. At the meeting, we were informed that the problem was at the sub-station and also due to snags in the feeder line. The department claims to undertake monthly maintenance at the sub-station. Yet, they haven’t been able to rectify the electricity situation in these two neighbourhoods,” he adds.
Mohan Krishnan, a resident of Nehru Nagar says that the local TNEB does not respond to complaints of frequent power outages.
“Calls to the emergency number 1912 evokes no response, more so at night. We don’t get a convincing reply even when we meet the officials in person. The frequent power cuts are giving senior citizens and children a tough time,” he says.
An official from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) says the power cuts are caused by overload of distribution transformers. “In summer, the demand is always high as almost all the houses and commercial establishments depend on air conditioners, especially at night. As a result, transformers are regularly developing snags. The department is attending to the complaints and we will address the issue soon,” he says.