Consumers take out anger on Tamil Nadu Electricity Board staff

CHENNAI: The power crisis in the state is taking a toll on field staff of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). There are increasing instances of TNEB officials being attacked by consumers. “In most cases, minor issues turn into major arguments. Our men have nothing to do with the power crisis in the state, but people don’t understand this and shower their anger on us,” said a TNEB official.
On Thursday last, TNEB staff who had gone to fix a problem in a private building on Anna Salai were locked up by irate consumers. When the electricity board employees went to complain to the police, the additional divisional engineer was allegedly abused by a sub-inspector. Soon, TNEB staff staged a protest against police’s lack of action.
In the past three months, at least six such incidents have occurred at places like Sholinganallur, Thoraipakkam, Semmenchery, Tiruvottiyur and Tondiarpet. In most cases, residents get agitated due to frequent power cuts and low voltage especially at night.
Officials felt a lack of rapport between consumers and the TNEB staff in-charge of an area has led to the current situation. Earlier, field level staff like foremen and area engineers deputed for a specific area would attend to problems immediately. It helped them develop a rapport with residents, councillors and panchayat heads over a period. It also helped consumers to understand the nature and challenges of their work.
Now, all field level employees have to report to the section office, which is in charge of many areas. Based on specific complaints, they are asked to go to a locality. “Everyday, the field staff goes to different areas and the consumers too remain unfamiliar to them,” said another TNEB official. Also, staff shortage in TNEB does not give the section engineer much choice but to work with the available limited manpower
For every 84 transformers in a section (which covers a 5km radius), TNEB should have at least 12 helpers and wire men each. But, only half of them exist for every 1,200 consumers under urban service category. At present, of the 1.48 crore connections in the state, Chennai has around 25 lakh connections. “In helper category alone, 24,000 posts are still vacant. The situation is similar in other posts in TNEB,” said a TNEB official.
Thursday’s incident was the second such instance of TNEB staff being attacked. On April 30, residents of Sholinganallur beat up TNEB staff after failing to get a response to their repeated complaints of defunct streetlights. TNEB officials explained to the residents that it is the Chennai Corporation that has to look into the problem, but to no avail. A day later, in a mark of solidarity with the injured staff, TNEB staff from adjoining sub-stations at Adyar, Perungudi, Kandanchavidi, Palavakkam, Neelankarai, Velachery and Semmenchery demanded that police file a case against the attackers.