Residents stage midnight protest

CHENNAI: Residents of suburban Adambakkam and Thillai Ganga Nagar staged a road-roko in the middle of the night on Sunday after the area suffered a black out. Police said over 100 residents from these areas took to the streets on Sunday night at 11.30 pm.  The power to the areas got cut at 9.30 pm and was not restored until well past midnight. Residents claimed that they suffered from frequent power cuts in the area and blamed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board(TNEB) officials for it. They also alleged that the TNEB officials did not attend to the problem nor restore power till much later. “When the power went off at 9.30 pm, many of us in the locality tried calling the EB sub-station at Thillai Ganga Nagar and no one responded,” said Vinayagam of Thillai Ganga Nagar.Waiting in vain for the electricity to be restored, the residents claimed that over 100 of them went to the EB sub-station at Thillai Ganga Nagar to question the staff there. The residents then alleged that they were shocked to see two linemen in the EB sub-station, drunk and not responding to their queries. The angry residents then gathered at GST Road, Alandur and staged a road-roko at 11.30 pm blocking traffic. “Power cuts have become frequent in our area. We suffer a lot because of this. We don’t know when this problem will be solved. The elderly and the little ones suffer more than us,” said Geetha of the same area.Police sources said that senior police officials and policemen from St Thomas Mount attempted to convince the angry mob of residents to disperse but none budged and the cops had to allegedly resort to a mild lathi-charge. But even that did not deter the angry residents, who again gathered in front of the sub-station, said the police. They allegedly began shouting slogans in the middle of the night in front of the sub-station. Adambakkam police intervened and assured that they would talk to the concerned EB officials to solve the issue of frequent power cuts. The residents claimed that they told the police about the problems they faced and that no EB officials ever attended to the issue. “We asked the police to take action against the drunk linemen. They just do not know how much we suffer because of this frequent power cuts,” said Murugesh of Adambakkam.