Road work causes 10-hr power cut, hits water supply in Pernambut

Shifting of electricity poles for road widening work and faulty 30-year-old pipelines have caused innumberable hardships to the public.

According to G Suresh Kumar, president, Town Congress Committee, “In order to ease traffic congestion, officials planned to widen Gudiyattam–Ambur Road that passes through several areas falling under Pernambut municipality. Around 70 electricity poles in the municipality that hindered the pathway were marked to be removed and funds to carry out the work were transferred to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) around 8 months back.”

To facilitate the road widening work, officials decided to relocate electricity poles by five-feet from their present location, “This is where the problems started,” added Suresh.

The norm was to provide electricity connection to new poles before dismantling the old power lines. “However, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) officials started the work by removing five poles a day, thereby disconnecting the power supply to the town,” said Pernambut Consumer Welfare Protection Committee President T Bashiruddin. “Though the Vellore based SE and the ADE in Gudiyattam assured power will be restored before 6 pm every day, the supply resumed only around 9 pm,” he added.

Works to remove the old poles were not carried out and the removed poles were either placed at the foot of the new poles or the poles continued to remain close to each other, said locals.

The situation got aggravated when the reduction in the power supply led to a meagre pumping of water for supply to houses and other establishments. The less quantum of water fed to overhead tanks severely affected the local supply.

The residents were thereby forced to store the water, “When we informed local body officials of larvae developing in the stored water, they visited our houses and sprayed disinfectants in the water which then became totally unfit for consumption,” Rukmini (name changed), a local said.

Former Pernambut panchayat union chairperson MR Devaki Rani said, “We are able to reach the local TNEB Junior Engineer, since his mobile number is switched off or out of reach.” Adding to the ordeal, exam goers are faced with the difficulty of lack of power supply that affected their studies.

Sources revealed that for the 55,000 population in themunicipality, 55 litres per capita daily (LPCD) should be provided. However, they never received the required quantity.

The lack of water supply was also attributed to the three-decade-old valves on the main lines that leak resulting in the failure of the water to reach the public. “At the most we get only one-hour supply a day,” locals averred. “The locals are irked that even the once-in-four days’ supply has now been reduced to once in 12 days,” said P Krishnaveni, Congress Women’s Wing Vice President.

The six overhead tanks in the town, which have a total capacity of 22 lakh litres, are never filled to the capacity despite day long pumping. Though, 22 lakh litres a day was promised under the Hogenekkal scheme, officials sources revealed they never received water to that level. The Pernambut municipality is located on the banks of the Malattar river and the river has been stripped of its sand by anti-social elements. Malattar river (locally termed as rival to Cauvery), which is just 5 km from Masigam, one of the areas under Pernambut municipality, today is a mere barren stretch. The water from the river was supplied to both the new Ambur and Pernambut water schemes.

When asked when the normal power supply would be restored, the senior engineer of TNEB in Vellore said, “I have instructed the Gudiyattam DE and Pernambut JE to put the scheme on hold till the exams. I have told them not to undertake schemes without approval.”

When asked about the delay in the work, he said, “The bazaar area is congested and hence we are not able to proceed quickly.”

“We have threatened to agitate in front of the EB and municipal offices if normalcy is not restored immediately,” said Suresh Kumar.