A three-day strike by workers of the electricity department plunged has crippled Chandigarh as the city faces a 36-hour power cut with several services such as water supply, telecom towers, traffic lights and medical facilities affected. Online classes and virtual court hearings have also been affected as the workers pulled all stops to protest against privatisation.
Following this, the Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act, prohibiting the strike of electricity department employees for a period of 6 months with immediate effect as “it adversely affects distribution, transmission, operation of supply of electricity.”
Meanwhile, after Punjab and Haryana High court took suo moto cognisance of the Chandigarh blackout, the UT administration has assured the court of restoring power in the entire city by 10 pm today. As of now, 80 per cent of electricity has been restored with the help of MES and others. The matter was heard by the high court division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli.
What all is disrupted?
The areas that have been majorly effected are sectors 20, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 49, 36, Kishangarh and Manimajra. Due to the strike many services have been stopped. Officials claim that they are working to restore the services.
“Due to the ongoing electricity crisis in Chandigarh, telecom services are badly impacted in all the areas of UT and nearby states. Telecom towers in Chandigarh are fully dependent on the electric grid supply,” Digital Infrastructure Providers Association, DIPA, said in a statement. Speaking to the media, SP Kochhar, Director General of COAI said, Telecom operators and infrastructure providers are taking all measures to power their sites, exchanges by using alternate sources batteries, DGs, solar panels etc. in the absence of EB supply in some areas.”
Read| Parts of J&K Face Power Cut as Electricity Dept Staff Protest Against Privatisation of Grid Stations
Meanwhile, Chandigarh Health Services Director Dr Suman Singh told PTI: “We have a backup plan like we have generators. But you cannot put 100 per cent load of a hospital on a generator. So, we had to reschedule or postpone our planned surgeries.”
“The situation is being viewed seriously and a SE (Superintendent Engineer) has been deputed at the 66 kV substation here. For the critical areas, we have a backup of DG sets. We are microscopically monitoring to ensure that no hospital service is impacted,” the PGIMER said in a statement.
Speaking to the media, UT chief engineer CB Ojha said, that the officials are trying to restore power in the city by deploying additional personnel from Punjab and Haryana. “Around 150 additional personnel have come from Punjab and Haryana. We are also ensuring that complaints are responded to immediately,” reported Hindustan Times.
Why is the strike happening?
Scores of employees from the electricity went on a strike on Monday night under the banner of the UT Powermen Union. The president of the union, Dhian Singh, claimed that they are protesting against the UT Chandigarh administration’s decision to privatise the electricity department.
The protesting employees claimed that if the electricity department was privatised, their service conditions would worsen and it also could lead to a rise in power tariffs. Several protest have been also held in the past against the privatisation of the department. Similar protests have also been taking place in other states of the country.
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