Rural Kanniyakumari still in the dark

But the urban areas turned out to be luckier. Repair works were taken up immediately and power was restored within four days. In some of the coastal areas, supply resumed in 10 days but in rural pockets near Marthandam there is still no electricity supply, even though it is 15 days after the cyclone struck.

In Thettai Kalayankodu and Thettai Chandravilai villages near Marthandam many houses are without power from the day Ockhi struck. S Ebin from Thettai Chandranvilai, said that they have been living in the dark for the last 15 days. “We got used to darkness now but with our 4-month-old baby life has become so difficult,” said Ebin.

However, his brother, residing close by, is a little lucky.

His house gets electric supply in the nights. Therefore, he is able to charge his inverters to use it wisely during the day. “I think the problem in our area is the electric post. If it is set right, the condition might improve,” said Ebin. Similarly, Ruban from Thettai Kalayankodu said that he too has not received power supply so far. He had called the officials of TNEB and they had promised to restore power in two days. But nothing has been done till now, he pointed out.

He also said that in the initial days a vehicle with a generator would visit their area and would charge Rs 500 for 30 minutes power supply. They had to buy electricity to operate the motors to draw water and to recharge their inverters, said Ruban. Collector Sajjan Singh R Chavavan said that power has been restored in 98 per cent of the areas and it would take another two days to complete the job. He also said that work in the remote tribal areas would be attended to soon.