Pulianthope residents lament over unattended cable fault

CHENNAI: A section of power consumers in Pulianthope have been forced to rely on temporary overhead lines for the past 8 months as Tangedco has failed to rectify it.

Due to an underground cable fault from a transformer to a pillar box located on Pulianthope High Road, about 10 houses were given power through temporary overhead cables leading to frequent outages and voltage fluctuations. This damaged household electrical appliances.

Faheen S, one of the affected residents, said that since July last year, Tangedco has not attended the cable fault despite several complaints. “Power supply from overhead lines was temporary. We’ve given written complaints and also called customer care to record our complaints, but no action has been taken yet to resolve it,” he said.

On February 8, due to a neutral cut, Faheen’s electrical equipment at home like AC, TV, laptop, mobile chargers and WiFi router, were damaged. His neighbour too suffered the same.

S Appavoo, general secretary, National Federation of Engineers for Electrical Safety, said: “Overhead cables pose more danger in urban areas than underground cables. Tangedco Operation and Maintenance officials should attend to the cable fault without any delay.”

The assistant executive engineer of Pulianthope said that they were attending to the cable faults that happened due to the storm water drain (SWD) works. “The SWD works were completed recently. We’re preparing estimates for changing the cables. We’ll attend to the complaint at the earliest,” he said.