IDUKKI: In Peerumedu, located in the Idukki district, employees of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), including officials, took leave to embark on a picnic, resulting in a power cut lasting around 16 hours for the entire region. Following this incident, a departmental inquiry circular has been issued.
The Peerumedu Assistant Executive Engineer is overseeing the departmental inquiry. On a Friday afternoon, during which a yellow alert was declared for Idukki due to heavy rains in Peerumedu, the power supply was severely disrupted. Electric poles were down, and lines were broken. However, despite these circumstances, no one from the KSEB responded to address the issue.
The Taluk office, responsible for disaster management, as well as other essential departments such as the taluk hospital, sub-jail, and police station, also struggled in darkness due to the power outage. This situation also inconvenienced hundreds of tourists who had come to Peerumedu to celebrate the Onam holiday. More than 4,000 customers within the Peerumedu feeder area were left without power for around 16 hours due to the absence of KSEB employees on their tour.
It has also been alleged that all officials traveled to other states without obtaining permission from the KSEB. When local residents contacted the section office at Pothupara after hours of power failure, they received a dismissive response, indicating that KSEB officials were on a tour.
As complaints about the situation became widespread, efforts were made to rectify the fault. A lady sub-engineer and the Vandiperiyar sub-engineer led these efforts during the night. However, due to insufficient staffing, the fault in the power line could not be identified. Consequently, electricity was only restored the following day (Saturday) at 10 am.
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