Amid heat, power cuts irk Chennaiites

CHENNAI: As the city sizzles under severe heat, the regular power cuts are disrupting the everyday life of people.

Meanwhile, city’s power demand touched 3,994 MW on Saturday night. According to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) data, weather station at Meenambakkam recorded 42.6 degrees Celsius and Nungambakkam recorded 42.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

With the unbearable weather condition, the power cuts and voltage fluctuations have started adding to people’s woes.

“This is getting worse day by day. Power cut at every midnight at KK Nagar. With a small baby at home, it is getting very difficult to pass the night without any sleep,” Shiva, a citizen, tweeted.

At Nesapakkam, members of AIADMK and the public on Saturday night staged a protest raising slogans against the Tangedco and the state government for the frequent power cuts during the night. Nesapakkam residents complain that power cut lasted for over four hours in midnight. A video of the protest went viral on social media.

R Bhoopalan, an activist, Tiruvottiyur said that residents of East Tiruvottiyur faced power cuts for nearly four hours. “Residents of Tiruvottiyur East, Ellaiamman Koil Street, Appar Koil Street, Radhakrishnan Street, Periyar Nagar and Kaladipet faced power cuts from about 10.30 pm to 2.30 am,” he said, adding that when he called the Tangedco, he was told that the power outage was due to feeder fault. “I have a feeling that we are facing major power outages every 15 days owing to a feeder fault,” he said.

According to a Tangedco official, the power outages happen due to the tripping of transformers, feeder faults and cable faults. “We have taken steps to rectify the faults as and when it happens at the earliest. We will erect additional distribution transformers,” the official said.