Outages at night, low voltage at day affect residents
Nanganallur, for example, is suffering because a power transformer at its Velachery source burst out into flames around a week ago while the sub-station itself is having trouble with faulty main cables.
CHENNAI: Residents in the city’s southern suburbs have been sweating it out in the middle of the night, thanks to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). Nanganallur, for example, is suffering because a power transformer at its Velachery source burst out into flames around a week ago while the sub-station itself is having trouble with faulty main cables. The issue is compounded by the fact that night time outages only serve to complement the disruptions during the day.
On Friday night, P.R. Subbaraman, a local resident, was forced to spend the night awake due to a power outage. When it did come back, the voltage was so low that no appliance would run. This voltage dip lasted until 11 am on Saturday. “The outages during the night have become difficult to live with,” he said.
V.Rama Rao, a social activist and a local resident, said Nanganallur’s 33 KV sub-station had far exceeded its consumer capacity. “Also, Nanganallur’s two source stations at Velachery functions such that if the first source develops a snag, the second one also becomes useless. Other sub-stations have as many as three or four sources to deal with the issue of power cuts,” he said.
“Besides, the Velachery source supplies only 160-180 volts. So, when supply at source is affected, then low voltage incidents are bound to happen. Lots of electrical appliances have been damaged because of this situation. The officials here only look up to the higher authorities but there is no action coming,” Rao added.
TNEB officials acknowledged the issue and said repair works were underway. However, outages could be done away with, were Nanganallur to receive power from the newly commissioned Alandur 230 KV sub-station that was built for Chennai Metro Rail.
“It is a big hurdle. Once we start receiving power from there, power cuts would no longer be an issue. But it is stuck owing to a policy issue,” the official added.
If Nanganallur’s woes are due to official apathy, then a little further away at Pallavaram, Chromepet and Hasthinapuram, it is the realty sector. “There is just not adequate power. On Thursday, I spent the whole night without it. Power tripping during the day is also increasing,” said V. Santhanam, president of the federation of civic and welfare associations, Chromepet.
“There are so many residential flats and commercial establishments popping up along the GST Road that there is not enough power for all. I know an apartment complex with around 500 flats in it running entirely on high power generators for almost a year now because they are yet to be given power supply. A shopping store in Chromepet was only recently given power connection,” Santhanam added.
Improperly maintained and aging equipment is only contributing to the issue. “Two days back, an internet service provider was laying underground cables near Chromepet and may be they dug too much that an electric post supplying power to almost 150 homes near here, fell in the process. It took a great deal of effort to restore power after five to six hours,” an official said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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