Electricity Minister P. Thangamani on Sunday said that while power supply had been restored in municipal and town panchayat limits in cyclone-hit districts, it would take another week to restore supply in rural areas.

The restoration work in rural areas is progressing at a fast pace, and villages are expected to get electricity supply in a phased manner within a week, the Minister told mediapersons in Salem. He was in the city to hand over a solatium to the kin of C. Murugesan, a Tangedco worker hailing from Manuvakattupalayam village, who was electrocuted while working in cyclone-hit Pudukottai district.

Mr. Thangamani said that the cyclone had damaged and uprooted 1.13 lakh electric poles in the coastal districts. Tangedco had a stock of about 70,000 electric poles to meet emergencies. As the damage was beyond expectations, additional electric poles were procured from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Installing electric poles in the field was a laborious task, and incessant rain in the affected districts had exacerbated the situation, he said.