Haryana unions call off 3-day strike after power cuts in Gurugram, other areas

The strike was called off after Saini assured the unions that private players would not be allowed in the state's power sector.

Energy department unions in Haryana have called off their three-day statewide strike against the parallel-distribution licence granted to Eleven Power Private Limited by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), following a meeting with Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Energy Minister Anil Vij that lasted several hours.

The strike was called off after Saini assured the unions that private players would not be allowed in the state's power sector and that no parallel-distribution licences would be granted. (HT_PRINT)

The strike was called off after Saini assured the unions that private players would not be allowed in the state's power sector and that no parallel-distribution licences would be granted.

Ravinder Ghanghas, general secretary of the Haryana Power Engineers Association, who attended the meeting in Panchkula on Thursday evening, told HT that the government had assured the unions it would write to HERC, seeking a review of its order allowing Eleven Power's petition for a 25-year licence to distribute electricity in parallel with existing utilities in Gurugram and Nuh, citing public interest.

Unions oppose parallel distribution, allege threat to public-sector jobs

The disruption followed striking employees of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) shutting down feeders or refusing to attend to routine line faults.

Residents reached ministers' home

In Sector 10's Hari Nagar, residents approached the residence of Haryana minister Rao Narbir Singh around 9.30 pm on Thursday after DHBVN officials stopped answering their calls, local resident Anita Yadav said.

The minister was not home, but residents appealed to his aides to intervene and restore electricity. “We vented our ire and asked his aides to intervene to get the power supply restored in our area,” Yadav said.

Sumit Pradhan, president of the Hari Nagar Residents' Welfare Association, said electricity was restored within 30 minutes of residents raising the issue at the minister's residence. The prolonged outage had also disrupted water supply, forcing residents to buy packaged drinking water, he said.

Dinesh Vashist, former president of the Sector 3, 5 and 6 residents' welfare associations, said electricity returned to their area after midnight, around 26 hours after the outage began. Officials attributed the disruption to a fault in a main high-tension feeder cable supplying electricity from a substation in Palam Vihar, which remained unrepaired until late Thursday evening.

Electricity restored in some parts after police intervention

In parts of old Gurugram, DHBVN employees restored electricity after police approached them and warned of possible legal action if protests over the outages, including road blockades at two locations, turned violent.

Four major power unions, including the Haryana Power Engineers Association and the All Haryana Power Corporation Workers Union, had called the strike against HERC's decision, alleging that parallel distribution was a backdoor route to privatisation that could threaten public-sector jobs.

The state government has maintained that it had no role in the regulator's decision and said it would challenge the HERC order before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity within a week. At a review meeting, Saini said the government was willing to engage lawyers trusted by the unions to pursue the case and reiterated that it remained open to dialogue.

Eleven Power, chaired by Sunil Sachdeva, is the first private company to receive a parallel-distribution licence in Haryana. The company plans to invest ₹4,716 crore over five years to build a parallel network, potentially giving more than 8.3 lakh consumers in Gurugram and Nuh the option of choosing between the private operator and state-run DHBVN.