Tamil Nadu temple engineer suspended over power outage during V-P’s visit

MADURAI: A junior electrical engineer of the Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, S Janakiraman, was placed under suspension with effect from October 31 over a power outage during Vice President C P Radhakrishnan's visit to the temple on October 30.

The temple administration said the lapse showed severe carelessness during a VVIP visit. Janakiraman has been asked to submit a written explanation within 15 days.

The action came after Electricity minister R Nirmal Kumar said action would be taken against those responsible for the disruption.

The temple administration and the electricity board had made arrangements to ensure uninterrupted power during the V-P’s visit, and electricity was supplied through a generator as a precaution. However, after the Vice-President completed his darshan and was addressing reporters outside the temple, the power went off for about two minutes, plunging the temple into darkness.

A similar disruption had occurred the previous day as well, when AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami was offering prayers at the temple. Palaniswami later criticised the state government over the outage.