Chennai, 9 June

Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar on Tuesday blamed "deliberate sabotage" behind the frequent power outages in the city and suburbs, claiming some people intentionally pulled fuses or caused blackouts to incite public protest.

The officials were assessing the frequency and location of power failure to detect suspicious and repetitive patterns that suggested "deliberate sabotage" rather than technical issues, he said.

"Complaints are being filed against individuals caught tampering with power infrastructure, with some arrests already reported," he said, responding to reporters' questions on frequent power outages and subsequent protests by residents.

Prolonged power failures lasting through late Saturday made the residents in several parts of Chennai and the suburbs spend a sleepless night. Some residents in Medavakkam, Pallikaranai, Perumbakkam, Sholinganallur, and the East Coast Road stretch, frustrated over the power cuts, resorted to protests as the outages lasted for two to four hours.

The protesters claimed that the power cuts have been recurring, while a senior official of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board claimed that tripping and distribution-related issues had caused the temporary power failure.

Kumar, who held the Energy Resources portfolio too, said the government depended on the cooperation from the public to report suspicious individuals or activities in areas lacking CCTV coverage.

"The officials are utilising existing CCTV footage to identify individuals tampering with equipment, such as pulling fuses," Kumar said and stressed that public vigilance was crucial in areas lacking CCTV coverage.

He explained that real-time status updates on power failures were being provided on social media through the 'Minnagam' portal. For its part, the state government has increased ground-level teams and intensified patrolling.

"Additional teams of 20 persons each have been deployed in areas like north Chennai, Perambur and Villivakkam to provide immediate relief and restore power and more staff have been assigned to patrol during the nights," he said.

The Minnagam system tracked all phone calls and complaints through social media and addressed the issues in coordination with the distribution department, he said.

On Monday, the minister had said that video footages from Avadi showed unknown persons opening pillar boxes and removing fuses, leading to financial losses to the state-owned entity and also in causing power supply interruptions to the consumers.