Birds, ‘kites,’ and now, squirrels play havoc with power supply in Trichy

TRICHY: With no respite for residents from the sultry weather despite the passing of peak summer, power supply disruptions during the day have been frustrating Trichy city residents.

While there is no shortfall between demand and supply of power, squirrels are among frequent disruptors in electricity distribution, causing short circuits on electricity poles and Tangedco's substations. What's worse, identifying the snag-hit electricity pole has become a big challenge for the workers to restore power supply.Tangedco said there have been back-to-back incidents in the city involving squirrels running into overhead power cables and short-circuiting insulators, a component responsible for preventing unwanted flow of electricity to the pole and the ground. The incidents occurred both at substations and electricity poles in residential areas, close to vacant land parcels. The incidents are reported mostly during peak morning hours, when people leave home or are preparing breakfast, leading to a volley of complaints.Apart from squirrels, peacocks in certain green pockets such as Vayalur road and Cantonment, and crows were also disrupting power distribution, leading to unannounced power cuts.

"Sporadic incidents have been recurring across urban areas in recent days. Our workers usually restore power within 30 minutes of receiving complaint. Squirrels have already caused power cuts in Central bus stand and Cantonment areas twice in a week," a senior Tangedco official said.The most challenging part, according to Tangedco's linemen, is identifying the faulty EB pole among the sections where the damaged insulators and cut-in jumpers must be replaced and rectified. Apart from animals and birds, children flying kites in the windy season also cause disruptions in distribution. Recently, a group of boys flying kites caused a power cut at about 2am in Natharsha Dargah locality near Alwarthoppu, after a severed kite got trapped between live wires.While Tangedco has an advanced supervisory system to identify faulty sections in high-tension (HT) network, a similar mechanism is yet to be introduced in the low tension (LT) distribution network. "Advancements in supervision of distribution are being made gradually," the official added.