Residents, including women and traders, blocked Arakkonam-Kancheepuram Main Road at Parameswaramangalam near Arakkonam town in Ranipet on Friday against power outage in the area for many days.

Most of the 1,500 families in the village are agricultural labourers and farmers. With farming activities for the crop season intensified, frequent power outages have affected irrigation of farmlands in the area. “Regular unscheduled power cuts have affected motor pump sets that are used for irrigating paddy fields. Agricultural workers do not get regular work due to power cuts in the village,” said G. Rajesh, a farmer.

Residents said that apart from farming activities, regular unscheduled power cuts have also affected domestic consumption as they were unable to upload water to a overhead tank. On an average, local panchayats supply water to households for an hour every day.

Water supplied by the civic body has been stored in sumps by individual households. However, due to power outages, residents were unable to use water supplied by the local body. As a result, residents store water in several pots for domestic use.

Power outage also affected the operation of household electrical items for daily usage. “We have made repeated complaints to local Tangedco officials for more than a fortnight to ensure uninterrupted power supply. However, power outages in the village have not been addressed,” said R. Suganthi, a resident.

High power demand

Tangedco officials said the existing 110 KV electrical transformer has been unable to cater to needs of over 600 consumers in the area. Household power consumption has increased in the area due to searing heat as many houses have air conditioners. With summer vacation for students, high power consumption has resulted in frequent breakdown of the transformer.

Against this backdrop, agitated residents blocked the key stretch towards Thakkolam around 11 a.m, affecting traffic movement on the busy stretch. Based on alert, Thakkolam police and Tangedco officials rushed to the spot and pacified the protesters. Tangedco officials said that efforts have been taken to upgrade the existing transformer or install additional transformer to prevent power outages in the village. Following assurances by officials and police, residents dispersed peacefully.