Tamil Nadu

Computer crash sparks longer hours at bill centres

TAMBARAM: Residents of some pockets in the southern suburbs of Chennai had to spend long hours at the bill collection centres of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board following a major breakdown in the computer network.

As Tuesday was the last day for paying the bills, dozens of residents turned up at the collection centres near the Madipakkam village panchayat office and at Nilamangai Nagar, Vanuvampettai in Alandur Municipality limits.

Fearing that power supply would be disconnected if they did not pay , they had turned up in large numbers, resulting in the collection centres getting crowded.

However, they were unable to make the payment as the network connectivity between the collection centres and the main server in Tirumangalam in the city crashed.

Several hundred people had gathered at the centres as the day progressed. Tempers raised and furious residents called up various offices to complain about the problem, even as the TNEB staff attempted to pacify them.

It took more than an hour for the problem to be set right, but residents ended up wasting a few hours inside the collection centres.

A senior engineer of TNEB said connectivity between the main server and collection centres in only pockets of South Chennai was disrupted and there were no complaints from the other areas.

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