Following the death of a couple in Velachery last week caused by an overhead power supply cable that snapped and fell on them, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has launched a massive maintenance drive of its facilities there.
Teams of Tangedco staff comprising assistant engineers, foremen and linemen from other parts of the State which have received little rainfall, have reported here for work.
The workers are pruning trees to prevent snapping of overhead cable, replacing damaged electricity poles and increasing the height of pillar boxes in Ashtalakshmi Nagar, Padmavathy Nagar, Venus Colony and Ram Nagar.
The official said more than 15 electricity poles have so far been replaced in Tansi Nagar, Gandhi Road and Taramani Link Road. Further, old conductors and jumpers are removed and new ones installed in transformers.
The height of concrete pillars of few junction boxes that were on the road level and flooded with rain water has been increased in Lakshmipuram, Draupadi Amman Koil Street and Annai Indra Nagar, he added.
Residents said had these maintenance works been carried out on time, the couple’s death could have been averted. Officials denied that the development works in the transmission network in Velachery were carried out only after their death. He said workers from other areas of Tamil Nadu were engaged in attending to faults in Tambaram, Mudichur, Maraimalai Nagar and T. Nagar.
