Modernised Maduranthakam power sector – 500 new electric poles! 89 new transformers!

Maduranthakam Assembly segment is located near Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu. The city houses the State's largest lake 'Maduranthakam' while the Vedanthangal bird sanctuary is located not far away from it. During the expansion of Chennai, Maduranthakam constituency is going to be the most beneficial one. Keeping this in mind, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is taking steps for the multilevel improvement of Maduranthakam region.

Cyclone Mandous affected Maduranthakam region the most. Its impact was seen in hundreds of fallen electric poles. Nevertheless, CM Stalin repaired everything and supplied electricity to the region within two days. Maduranthakam constituency in the last 2 years has seen tremendous progress in electricity supply sector. The constituency has overcome all the difficulties such as low voltage issues, circuit overload issues etc.

Regarding the changes brought by the current DMK reign, Assistant Engineer of Maduranthakam region S. Yogaraj said that almost 750 transformers in the area come under his control. In the past one year alone, seven transformers have been replaced with new ones. Additionally, approval for changing 14 more transformers have been acquired and soon new ones will be installed. In Mambakkam region, two transformers, which were burnt due to high voltage, were replaced by new ones within two hours.

Fifty pole-mounted 50-KV transformers were installed per street to prevent the voltage related issues. The decision to install single-pole transformers was made taking into account the narrow roads. This particular installation ensured the uninterrupted supply of power without any overloading issues and it also helped in preventing blackouts. So, carrying out repair work in one street will not affect the power supply in other streets. "Similarly, we have taken many multilevel initiatives in the last two years for the transformation of the Maduranthakam power station into a modern one," said the Assistant Engineer.

In Vanniyar street, where more than 100 families reside, low-voltage issue used to occur often owing to the old transformers. Now, in the current reign, transformers are installed separately on each side of the streets covering the households on its respective sides. Following this, the residents are happy that the power is being distributed uniformly and consistently without any interruptions. For the swift actions taken by the CM in fixing the region's power related issues, the people of this region are expressing their heartfelt gratitude.

Junior Engineer Ganesan said that in Maduranthakam town division where he is working, two 25-KV transformers have been installed due to the prevalence of power cut issues in certain streets. "One more 63-KV transformer has been installed in another street. These measures helped in prevention of voltage related issues and power cut issues. Farmers who form the majority of the residents living in Mariputhur village complained about the electric poles collapsing in their farmland. Based on the complaints from the farmers also, all electric poles have been replaced and new ones were installed in many places, said the Junior Engineer. 180 new electric poles have been installed in Arcot and Olavetti falling under the Maduranthakam area.

Zonal Officer Senthamarai said that in Maduranthakam region alone, five substations and 1,702 transformers are there. Of them , 89 defective ones were identified and replaced. In parallel to this, 189 defective electric poles were replaced in the last two years alone. "With the 1,50,000 free electricity connections to the farmers given by the CM, we received around 109 services. Our area farmers have greatly benefited from the free electricity connections, considering the past suffering from the lack of power connection," said the Zonal officer. With the CM's target to provide 50 more connections this year, the area will get additional 164 electricity connections, she added.

Among the heavily affected constituencies of Maduranthakam, Acharapakkam and Cheyyur by Cyclone Mandous, 559 electric poles had collapsed in Maduranthakam alone. The repair works of the fallen poles were done at a lightning speed by bringing electricians from different districts. The work was done within 2 days and on the third day uninterrupted power supply was provided to the people. This was possible because of the Chief Minister's special care of the constituency by taking the needed steps to speed up the process and also providing necessary electrical equipment.

Also, he has ordered formation of committees for the prevention of occurrence of power related issues in the constituency. The committees are having regular meetings with Minister Senthil Balaji which aids the timely identification of cause of the issues and the provision of necessary electrical equipment. Owing to these reasons, Maduranthakam region has attained self-sufficiency, said Senthamarai.