The access-control initiatives follow the theft of 18 hard disks from the TNPDCL headquarters recently.
The Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) will introduce access control protocols as part of security enhancement measures at its vital installations.
According to official sources, biometric authentication would soon be introduced to identify and record the entry/exit details of staff and visitors to the digital platforms and data storage centres.
The access-control initiatives follow the theft of 18 hard disks from the TNPDCL headquarters here recently. Investigators who zeroed-in on the prime suspect, Gopinath – the Annual Maintenance Contract service provider of Arakkonam – and his accomplice Manohar of Bengaluru, they found 34 hard disks, all allegedly stolen from TNPSCL, the sources said.
It was not clear whether the number of hard disks stolen from the organisation is 34 or even more than that. However, erased data, which was retrieved by the police so far did not reveal anything incriminating, the sources said.
Holiday restrictions
Since the theft of hard disks took place on a holiday, the sources said steps were taken to avoid entry of contractual staff or visitors to data centres on weekends and other holidays unless an exigency arose.
State Minister for Energy Resources R. Nirmalkumar reviewed the developments with the Chairman and Managing Director, TANGEDCO, J. Radhakrishnan and other senior officials on Monday evening, the sources said.
While the CB-CID is probing the theft case, the TNPDCL has ordered an internal inquiry into the incident and officers were also reviewing the data protection policy.
Parrying questions on the nature of data retrieved from the 34 hard disks recovered from the accused persons and the sources said it was not clear why complaint was not lodged in connection with the theft of hard disks on earlier occasions.
Published – June 09, 2026 09:40 pm IST
