New Tangedco office fails to solve consumers’ problem

As the facility at Mittanamalli lacks online billing option, residents continue to travel six km to the one in Pattabiram, says D. Madhavan

Of no help: The new dedicated Tangedco office in Mittanamalli, Avadi has no online billing facility. Photo: D. Madhavan

More than four months after they received a new Tangedco office in their locality, , residents of Mittanamalli in Avadi are not too pleased with what it has to offer.

The reason: they still have to travel at least 6 km to pay the electricity bills at the Tangedco office in Pattabiram, as the existing office in Mittanamalli does not have an online billing facility.

At present, the existing Tangedco office is functioning from a rented premise and is under staffed. In November 13 last year; a new office was established at Mittanamalli in addition to the existing one in Pattabiram on the Chennai – Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road near the railway station. The new office was meant for certain areas that could not be effectively serviced by the one in Pattabiram.

Areas covered by the Mittanamalli Tangedco office include Mittanamalli, Muthalpudupet, Brindhavan Nagar, Pattabiram Military Siding (PTMS), Rajiv Gandhi Nagar and Ellaiamman Nagar. These areas together account for around 6,500 consumers.

“A separate Tangedco office has come up in the locality after a decade-long struggle by residents,”

said K. Chandru, a resident of Mittanamalli. Despite its location of the fringes of the city, Mittanamalli has a multi-cultural population including Sikhs, Bengalis and Telugu-speaking people, with most being employed in the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station.

Locals are marginal farmers and unskilled labourers. However, the neighbourhood faces severe connectivity problems including lack of Internet facilities. As a result, residents are unable to pay their electricity bills online. Further, the Internet server at the lone post office too has connectivity problems, and consumers have no option other than travelling to the Tangedco office in Pattabiram. Adding to this, inadequate bus services between Mittanamalli and Pattabiram force consumers to change two buses.

Tangedco sources said procedural delay is the reason for the delay in establishment of online billing facilities at the Tangedco office in Mittanamalli.

Repeated reminders to higher officials, including superintending engineer and divisional engineer of Tangedco, have been sent by local officials based on several complaints by the residents.

“We have requested our higher officials to install a modem and a tower to facilitate the operation of the online system. But we have not received any response,” said a local Tangedco official.