Chennai Residents Protest After Nighttime Power Outages Disrupt Suburbs

A fault in a high‑tension cable caused prolonged nighttime power outages across several southern Chennai suburbs, including Medavakkam, Pallikaranai, Perumbakkam, Sholinganallur and the East Coast Road corridor. The cuts lasted two to four hours, leaving thousands without electricity during humid weather and prompting residents to take to the streets demanding immediate restoration.

Local MLA B. Vijayaraj intervened to calm the protesters, while Tamil Nadu Electricity Board chief J. Radhakrishnan attributed the failures to distribution‑level issues such as transformer overloads, cable faults and aging infrastructure. Officials said the state has sufficient overall power generation but must upgrade substations, transformers and underground cables to cope with rapid urban growth. Residents reported sleeplessness, hardship for the elderly, women and children, and damage to household appliances.

The incident highlights chronic last‑mile electricity challenges in a metropolis serving roughly four million consumers through more than 250 substations and 40,000 transformers.