CHENNAI: Finance and Electricity Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Monday chaired a review meeting with the TANGEDCO officials about its preparedness with the Met department predicting heavy rain in districts including Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Theni and Dindigul.

Taking stock of the monsoon preparatory works through video conferencing attended by the chief engineers and superintendent engineers across the state, the minister instructed the officials to keep men and equipment ready to restore the power supply in case of failure.

The minister insisted that the Tangedco workers carrying out repair works should guard themselves with full protective gear and instructed the officials to be in touch with the respective district administrations during natural calamities.

"In case of power outages, the priorities should be given to restore power supply to hospitals and drinking water pumping stations, " the minister directed.

The superintendent engineers should form a separate cell in their office to decide on precautionary works and assess the damages and communicate to all, he said. During the rainy season, he advised the public to take caution while handling electronic equipment and that they should not go near snapped cables.

According to the TANGEDCO statement, it has a stock of three lakh poles, 22,209 km of cables, 18,395 distribution transformers, 90 pump sets, 396 diesel generators and 3,586 emergency lights.