CHENNAI: In Tiruninravur, a western suburb of the city, just two wiremen are responsible for maintaining more than 16,000 electricity connections—a glaring shortfall that’s left residents battling frequent power cuts, voltage drops, and delayed responses to even minor faults.
Residents from areas such as Annambedu, Karunakaracheri, Ramapuram, Rajankuppam, and Bethel Nagar say they’ve been facing the brunt of this manpower crunch for over six months. Recurrent outages and low voltage have become a daily struggle, leaving them frustrated and helpless.
“Whenever power goes out, we know we’ll have to wait at least two hours. It happens four or five times a day—day or night, rain or shine,” said Suganthi, a social worker from Annambedu. “And when power comes back, the voltage is so low it’s like having no electricity at all.”
Another resident, Saravanan, said he had to spend ₹10,000 repairing his refrigerator, which was damaged due to persistent voltage fluctuations. “Things were fine last year. But since January, voltage drops have become the norm. We often have to keep appliances switched off to protect them,” he said.
Consumer rights activist T Sadagopan, from the Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre in Pattabiram, criticized the Tiruninravur TNPDCL section for the poor staffing. “With over 16,000 connections and 160 transformers, having just two wiremen—both over 50 years old—is absurd and dangerous. This section requires at least five or six wiremen,” he said. “TNPDCL must consider both the well-being of employees and the needs of residents.”
A TNPDCL section officer admitted that lack of manpower is a key reason for delays and acknowledged that no maintenance work had been carried out since February, citing board exams as the reason pruning activities were paused.
“Recent rains damaged several overhead lines due to tree branches falling on live wires,” the officer said. “Flashing of insulators also caused interruptions. We’ve now replaced some, and permissions have been granted to resume full maintenance.”
For now, residents can only hope that relief comes quickly—either in the form of more staff or more reliable power.
