Chennai: What can two wiremen do for a neighbourhood with more than 16,000 electricity connections? Not much — and that’s exactly what residents of Tiruninravur, a western suburb, are struggling with. With frequent power cuts, low voltage issues, and little official response, residents say they are running out of patience as delays in attending even minor faults stretch for hours, sometimes days.Residents of Annambedu, Karunakaracheri, Ramapuram, Rajankuppam, and Bethel Nagar have lost hope that they will get quality power. They have been facing prolonged power cuts and voltage fluctuations for about six months.Suganthi, a social worker from Annambedu, said, “If there is an interruption in power supply, we can rest assured that we have to wait at least two hours. And it happens at least four times in 24 hours, irrespective of if it is day or night, or if it rains or shines. When the power supply is restored, the voltage will drop considerably, making it as bad as no electricity,” she said.Another resident, Saravanan, said he spent 10,000 to repair his refrigerator, which went blank due to fluctuations in the voltage. “Till last year, it was fine. The fluctuations started only this year. We have to keep even the refrigerator switched off due to the drop in the voltage,” he said.T Sadagopan of Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre from Pattabiram said Tirunindravur TNPDCL office has more than 16,000 connections and 160 transformers, but there are only two wiremen to attend faults in the entire section day and night. “The section needs five to six wiremen as the existing two are 50-plus, and climbing poles is risky for them. TNPDCL should consider the working conditions of their employees and strengthen the workforce,” he said.The TNPDCL section officer, however, said that maintenance works were not carried out in the area since February due to board exams, due to which pruning of trees was not carried out. “Due to recent rain, some of the overhead power lines were damaged as tree branches came in contact with the live cables. Also, flashing of insulators resulted in interruptions, and they were replaced,” he said. The officer, admitting that lack of manpower causes delay in attending faults, added that permission has been granted to carry out maintenance works.