/
Haryana power strike: outages in Gurugram, Faridabad and Nuh as 40,000 employees protest a private licence
About 40,000 power employees began a three-day strike on 22 October against a 25-year parallel distribution licence granted to a private company in Gurugram and Nuh. Outages hit homes, factories and water supply, and the state says it will appeal to the tribunal.
P
4 min
Power supply was disrupted across Haryana on Thursday as about 40,000 electricity employees and engineers began a three-day strike against a private company's entry into power distribution in Gurugram and Nuh. The worst-hit districts were Gurugram, Faridabad and Nuh, where cuts began at 10 pm on Wednesday, 21 October, and an estimated 10 lakh consumers were affected. The strike runs until 24 October.
The cause is an order of 19 October by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission granting Eleven Power Private Limited a 25-year parallel distribution licence for both districts, under Section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003. The company would supply electricity alongside the state-owned utility, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam. The employees call it the first such licence in Haryana and are demanding that it be cancelled at once and that the state adopt a clear policy against parallel licensing. They were called out by the Haryana Electricity Employees and Engineers Joint Struggle Front.
The damage on the ground
In Gurugram the department logged more than 3,000 unattended complaints in the first 12 hours. Outages hit Sectors 5, 7, 10A and 52, Palam Vihar and Daulatabad, and residents said complaint centres had stopped responding. Several colonies switched to generators after inverters ran out, and some areas ran short of drinking water as pumps stopped. In Nuh, Punhana, Nagina and Firozpur Jhirka lost power, and in Faridabad residents of NIT-2, after about 13 hours without electricity and with their water gone, blocked a road until police dispersed them. One resident said people were being "held hostage".
Industry took a hit. Units in Sector 37, Kadipur and Basai stopped work, and owners feared losses running into crores of rupees. Deepak Maini, chairman of the Progressive Federation of Trade and Industry, said the cuts had "brought machinery and production to a halt" and warned that deliveries could be delayed. Reports say the disruption has spread to other parts of the state, including Hisar, Kaithal and Karnal, with outages reported in about 15 districts. The Joint Front says feeders at 33 kV and 11 kV are out of service and that nearly the whole workforce is on strike, which has not been independently checked.
Unions call the licence "backdoor privatisation". They argue that a private firm taking the profitable commercial areas would drain the state utility of revenue and leave it unable to keep tariffs low for farmers and poorer households, and that jobs would come under threat. National leaders of the Electricity Employees Federation of India and the All India Power Engineers Federation have backed the strike. So have most parts of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the Sarv Karamchari Sangh Haryana and the trade unions CITU, AITUC, INTUC and AIUTUC, which held demonstrations. Employees burnt effigies of the chief minister, Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the commission's chairman.
The government's response
The state says it opposes the licence but cannot undo it directly. Energy Minister Anil Vij called the commission's decision "unwarranted" and said the commission is an independent body under central law, so the state could not block the original application. The government says it has moved, or will move, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity to seek a stay, and will go to the Supreme Court if the tribunal declines. Vij said the appeal would be filed in five to six days, though the prescribed period for it is 45. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the government would represent the employees' case and was ready to hire lawyers whom the unions trust.
Vij asked the workers to "leave the path of strike and join us to fight the legal battle", and offered to let employees help the government's counsel. The state recalled staff from leave, asked for technical staff from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and told local authorities to keep supply to hospitals and the Metro going. Talks between Gurugram's deputy commissioner, Uttam Singh, and the employees late on Wednesday failed.
Eleven Power, the commission and the existing distribution companies have not commented in the reports available. The unions say the strike will go on until the licence is withdrawn, and with two days left of the announced period, the next test is whether the tribunal grants the stay the state has promised to seek.
P
4 min
What did you think?
