The Wednesday rain accompanied by thunder and lightning exposed the shortcomings in the power infrastructure in the city.
The rain was the first summer showers in Tiruchi. While it brought down the temperature to an extent, thereby giving temporary relief to the people, the rain with gusty wind damaged many critical electrical equipment, thereby disrupting the power supply. Almost all parts of city suffered power disruption ranging from 2 hours to 15 hours.
According to official sources, the integrated control room for receiving complaints at Thennur received 511 complaints from power consumers from different parts of the city on Thursday alone. It received calls from all 25 sections including Crawford, Cantonment, K.K. Nagar, Mannarpuram, Sembattu, Kattur, Srirangam, Bheema Nagar, Palakkarai, Mahalakshmi Nagar, Srirangam and Thiruvanaikoil. Most of them were received during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. Central Bus Stand, which houses a number of hotels and restaurants, and the District Court complex were among those worst affected.
Soon after the rain began lashing the city around 10 p.m, almost all parts of the city plunged into darkness. While power supply was resumed after about two hours in some areas, it did not resume for several hours after the rain subsided in many areas.
Though the people had undergone similar experiences in the past, the Tangedco officials agreed that it was a nightmarish experience not only for the people but also the officials and field staff members of Tangedco.
While an electric post was uprooted at Mahalakhsmi Nagar near Kattur, about 200 roadside trees and branches fell on power lines at various places in the city, thereby snapping of power lines. In some places, signboards and flex boards too fell on power lines. In addition to them, lightning damaged a number of breakers, a device to protect electrical circuit and other critical equipments, at various places.
A major fault was noticed on a Ring Main Unit (RMU), a modern and highly technical electrical equipment that connects three feeder lines at Cantonment. Its malfunctioning brought down the power supply in many areas of the city, said a senior official.
Since faults were reported at many places, the Tangedco officials found it difficult to pin point them due to darkness. Forty teams were out on duty to attend complaints since 11 pm on Wednesday to 7 pm on Thursday. The officials had to involve the workforce of a private company to rectify the fault on the RMU at Cantonment.
While the officials managed to restore power supply within two to three hours in some areas, areas such such as Central Bus Stand, Court, Bheema Nagar and Palakkarai took nearly 10 to 15 hours to resume power.
“There has been a remarkable improvement in power distribution network in the recent past. But, there is hardly any improvement in reducing the fault repair time. There is an acute shortage of manpower particularly at field level. Power consumers can not afford to be without power supply for more than 30 minutes,” says S. Ramakrishnan, a retired Tangedco official, of SMESC Colony.