The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Frequent blackout, a burning problem

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Frequent blackout, a burning problem

K. Lakshmi

Students, industrial units hit in western suburbs

Residents of Ambattur have been enduring unannounced power cuts for nearly two months
TNEB official says measures are being taken to avoid disruptions and meet the summer demand

CHENNAI: Frequent power cuts have become a daily ordeal for several households in Ambattur and Avadi and affected production at many industrial units in the Ambattur Industrial Estate.

Residents of several areas in Ambattur complain that they have been enduring unannounced power failures almost every day for nearly two months now. G. Natarajan, a resident of Ram Nagar, said hundreds of households in many localities, including Venkatapuram, Vijayalakshmipuram and Secretariat Colony, were affected by power cuts.

Students appearing for the public examinations are the worst-hit as they have to study often under candle light, thanks to the power disruptions during evening hours, he added.

President of Secretariat Colony Residents’ Welfare Association K.Varadhan said that on many days the power cuts continued for over four hours. Several areas in the western suburbs also go without power on account of the planned shutdown twice a month for maintenance work, he added.

Even if the unscheduled power cuts were part of the load-shedding measures, the authorities should inform the residents about the time when the supply would not be made available, Mr.Varadhan added.

Residents of Thirumullaivoyal and Avadi also voiced similar complaints about power failures for many hours. They said the problems persisted despite repeated complaints made to fuse off call centres.

The recurrent power disruptions in the Ambattur Industrial Estate have sparked discontent among small and medium unit holders. Several industrial unit-holders said the industries were closed on Mondays as it has been declared as power holiday to give priority to students in power usage during exams.

Besides the power shutdown announced between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. daily as part of the load-shedding activity, the units had to endure power failures during morning hours that gave only a few hours for them to operate, they said.

Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers’ Association president S. Srinivasan said the estate had about 2,500 small and medium scale industrial units. Such units were already bogged down by several other problems, including a high level of absenteeism among the employees and increasing price of raw materials.

“We have to pay wages for the overtime work that the workers have put in owing to power failures during evening hours. Use of electricity generators is not an alternative to power cuts as it is expensive,” he said. Usage of generators is not a viable solution for even large-scale industrial units, Mr.Srinivasan pointed out.

TNEB response

Responding to the complaints, a Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) official said that measures were being taken to avoid power disruptions and meet the demand during summer. Immediate action was being taken on complaints received in fuse-off call centres, he said.

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