Widespread power disruptions in Kochi have led to escalating tensions between consumers and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) officials. The latest incident occurred in Aluva, where a group of residents from various parts of the town staged a protest at KSEB's electrical section office at Thottakkattukara in the early hours of Tuesday.
Officials at the office stated that the issue began on Monday night. An official explained, "We have four feeder lines — two each from Aluva powerhouse and Alangad feeder — which supply power to residents and other institutions within our jurisdiction. Just like other parts of the state, power consumption was at its peak in our limits on Monday night. It caused some disruptions. Though we managed to provide supply to most areas by regulating supply to certain places, the situation went out of hand around 2am on Tuesday when a pickup van rammed an electric pole near Aluva powerhouse and the feeder line from there was snapped."
Residents from various localities arrived at the office to protest, with some bringing beds and pillows, threatening to "sleep inside our office." The official added, "We managed to provide supply to every area with the support of facilities and staff from neighbouring electrical sections. By 6am, we could restore supply fully. The situation arose out of unforeseen reasons including the pickup van accident. We won't blame local residents for staging protests. However, we won't be able to restore supply in certain circumstances."
While there were reports that some residents burst crackers in front of the office as a mark of protest, officials denied any such incident.
In Kochi city, residents have staged protests at various KSEB offices following frequent power disruptions. A senior official stated, "Residents staged protests in our offices in Edappally and Cheranellore areas. Anticipating a surge in consumption during summer, we already replaced some of our transformers with higher-capacity ones. We are still going on with such works to avoid power disruptions."
