Fire plunges Velachery into darkness

The whole of Velachery and part of Taramani plunged into darkness as power supply was cut off due to safety concerns.

A Tangedco official said that a faulty transformer in the substation led to the tripping of a feeder line and it eventually led to the fire. “We don’t know what caused the fire. But it could not be put off immediately as there was thick smoke. The fire started spreading. We called in the fire and rescue services to douse the fire and we had to switch off the supply considering safety,” the official said.

The official added that the power supply was restored to about 70 per cent of the areas, including Velachery East, Taramani and Periyar Nagar in the morning itself. He said that power was restored at Velachery and Dhandeeswarar Koil around 4.30 pm.

Residents of Velachery, who had been facing night time power cuts during the summer, were agitated after the power supply was not restored for hours together. As the power cuts disturbed their sleep, many took to social media to express their anger over the unscheduled power cut. Many residents complained that their calls to Tangedco office went unattended.

M Varatharajan wrote on Twitter: “Velachery has been facing continuous power cuts in the past weeks and the worst was on July 29.”

Pushmita Ashokan asked the Tangedco to at least explain the reason for the power cut. “Please do let us know the reason at least. This month starts with half an hour power cut, thrice daily, and now ends with two hours cut thrice in a day,” she wrote on herTwitter handle.