Residents blame EB for failing to trim trees

Many residents living in the suburbs, which were affected the most, told DTNext that the EB officials have not carried out branch pruning works properly for a long time. The falling branches were instrumental in snapping of power cables and collapse of electric poles, they added.

A police officer, who had been on the road all these days to direct his personnel in restoration operation said wrong selection of avenue trees and lack of pruning had caused extensive damage to the transmission systems in the suburbs. 

“Most of the uprooted trees were Mayflower (Gulmohar). These trees are not supposed to be used as avenue trees as they do not have deep running roots and get uprooted even during mild storms. It’s a soft wood and its branches also break easily. Moreover, TNEB staff had not pruned the branches, that were leaning on to the power cables,” the officer said.

When contacted, Chief Engineer, Planning and distribution, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) said that the issue has not been brought to its notice so far. 

“We believe that the staff had been doing the work routinely. Nobody has raised this issue to us so far and we need to see if there has been delay in pruning in some areas,” the Chief Engineer said. 

“TNEB staff had not done pruning for several months, if not several years in our area. Some residents risk their lives and cut some branches when they see them  putting pressure on the power cables. They have not reinstated power in our area yet as most of the poles have been damaged,” Harish Kumar, a resident of Tiruverkadu said. 

Officials say that the residential associations can also take up the matter and give a complaint to the concerned EB offices, if they find the branches had not been pruned for long. “The main issue is that the residents also do not take any initiative to solve such issues in their areas. If they had flagged the issue in advance to any of the authorities, we could have avoided such extensive damage to our power transmission infrastructure,” another police official said.