Two years ago, it was announced that a power substation would come up at Ravanan Nagar, Puzhudivakkam.
All the decks for the project seemed to have been cleared. Yet, not a single stone has been turned towards making the proposed sub station a reality. As they battle frequent power outages and voltage fluctuations, residents of Ullagaram Hindu Colony (2nd, 3rd and 4th Main Roads and 1st to 4th Cross Streets), Amman Nagar and of a few areas in Ullagaram and Puzhudhivakkam want to know why the substation project did not take off.
N. Sethuraman, resident of Hindu Colony, Ullagaram, says, “Recently, television sets and air-conditioners at a few houses were damaged due to high voltage.”
N. Mathivathanan, joint secretary, Federation of Ullagaram-Puzhudivakkam-Madipakkam, says: Several representations have been made to the officials concerned, but in vain. Unless the area had its own substation, the problem of power outages and fluctuations would continue, he added. At present, houses in certain areas of Ullagaram and Puzhudivakkam receive power supply through loop-lines from Velachery, Nanganallur and Madipakkam substations.
When contacted, a senior official of the TANGEDCO, Ullagaram-Puzhudivakkam, said that the power situation in the region was not as bad as portrayed by residents. He said that a few transformers were installed at Ganesh Nagar 7th Street and Mandaveli Street, a few weeks ago under the Extension of Service (EOS) scheme. Also, under the central government’s Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme (APDRP), work on three more 100-kv transformers was in progress at Hindu Colony 4th street, Bajanai Koil Street and New India Colony extension. The work would be completed within a week. Once that was done, the load would be distributed equally, thereby reducing voltage fluctuations, he added.
J.K. Manikandan, councillor, ward 168, said after initial approval, there was resistance to having Ravanan Nagar lake area as the site for the substation. The reason given was that it was a lake area. As the proposed site was located too high from the lake area, there would be no problem. If a substation is built here, not only the residents of Ullagaram-Puzhudivakkam, but also the residents of Nanganallur, Pazhavanthangal, Madipakkam, Moovarasampet and of a few areas in Velachery would benefit from it. Also, there would be an end to the misuse of the spacious land by miscreants. So keeping these benefits in view, the Corporation must take steps to give NOC for the project. “What we need is only a green signal, from the Corporation, to construct a substation at Ravanan Nagar,” electricity board officials said.
