1 held for locking up TNEB staff

CHENNAI: A team of six Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) members who had gone to rectify a fault in a junction box inside a private property were prevented from doing their duty and ended up locked inside the premises at Anna Salai on Thursday. Following the incident, over 500 staff of the TNEB gheraoed the Triplicane police station, demanding action. The police arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the case. The protesting TNEB staff said that six staff members from Anna Salai EB office had gone around 11 am to fix a fault and restore a cable in a junction box inside the premises of a private building next to a cinema theatre on Anna Salai. They claimed that the six-member team, including an assistant executive engineer, assistant engineer, a lineman and foreman, had gone in response to complaints of power cut in the area for the past one week.The team had been digging a hole to fix a new cable when some employees in the building obstructed them and manhandled one of them. “They verbally abused our staff and locked them inside for close to half an hour,” a TNEB staff member said. The staff said that according to the Electricity Act 2003, EB staff were permitted even to break into a place to repair junction boxes belonging to the Board. “We can enter any premises without permission to fix a fault in a transformer or any property of the EB. But in this case they did not break in,” said another EB staff.They alleged that the police had not responded to their complaint. “We are in a tough situation, given the power crisis and the long hours we work,” said Sreenivasan, secretary, Chennai central zone, Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees. Police arrested Jeeva (25), a worker in the private building, in connection with the case.