Official apathy: Frequent power cuts at nights leave Tambaram locals sleepless

Chennai: Every night, Anitha, 32, sits beside her two young children, fanning them by hand so they can sleep through the heat. With unscheduled power cuts stretching for hours, her home in Tambaram turns stifling, leaving the family restless and exhausted. Her situation reflects the growing distress faced by hundreds of residents across the Tambaram Corporation limits.With summer temperatures crossing 40C to 42C, frequent and prolonged power cuts and voltage fluctuations over the past week have caused inconvenience in areas such as Chitlapakkam, Chromepet, Camp Road and Ambedkar Colony. Residents say outages at night now last between two and five hours. Residents have also raised concerns about voltage fluctuations damaging electrical appliances. T Raghavan, a resident of Chromepet, said, "On Saturday night, the power supply fluctuated every 20 mins and this damaged the circuit board in our air conditioner. Low-voltage has been an issue for more than a decade in Chromepet. Necessary action should be taken by the electricity board to fix this at the earliest."In Ambedkar Colony, home to nearly 2,000 residents, power supply remains unpredictable. "There is no fixed time for restoration. Sometimes it returns in 15 mins, but often it takes up to three hours," said M Nalini, a resident. She added that when residents contact the electricity board, no clear explanation is provided.Residents also pointed out that there is no prior notice about scheduled outages, leaving them unprepared. Many have urged authorities to improve communication and ensure stable power supply.Although a new substation has been proposed in Hasthinapuram to address demand, the project has not yet moved beyond the planning stage. Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited officials were unavailable for comment.