Parts of Chandigarh have been left without electricity and water for over 36 hours in a major blackout following a three-day strike by electricity department workers. Thousands of homes have been without power and water supply since Monday evening and traffic lights are not working in many areas in one of India's most well-planned cities.
The administration has, in court, accused striking workers of "acts of sabotage".
Government hospitals have been forced to rescheduled many surgeries.
"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," Chandigarh Health Services Director Suman Singh told news agency PTI.
The power cut has also shut down online classes and coaching institutes in the Union Territory located around four hours from Delhi.
The electricity workers are protesting against the privatisation of the electricity department. Union Territory Advisor Dharam Pal held a meeting with the powermen's union to persuade them to call off the strike, but there is no resolution so far.
The protesting employees fear privatisation will change their work terms and also drive up power tariffs.
On Tuesday evening, the Chandigarh administration enforced the Essential Services Maintenance Act, banning strikes by the electricity department for six months.
Officials of the Chandigarh administration claimed they had made arrangements to maintain power supply, but residents and traders in many areas of the city complained of outages. Power cuts have also hit industrial production and manufacturing at some units in the city.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court intervened yesterday and summoned the Union Territory's Chief Engineer on Wednesday.
Justices Ajay Tewari and Pankaj Jain directed the Chief Engineer to inform them about measures taken to alleviate the power crisis in Chandigarh.
"It has been brought to our notice that power supply to large parts of the city of Chandigarh has been disrupted. In the circumstances, we are constrained to take up this matter on the judicial side and have consequently requested the learned senior standing counsel, UT, Chandigarh to apprise us of the arrangements which the administration is making to ensure that undue hardship is not caused to the residents of the city," the court order said.
The Chandigarh administration's lawyer Anil Mehta told the judges that "the power failure is on account of acts of sabotage by the striking employees".
He said Punjab and Haryana had been asked to loan their power workers to help tide over the crisis.
The court noted the lawyer's statement that Punjab has "expressed its inability to send any person on deputation".
"This court cannot be oblivious of the fact that disruption of electricity supply is not only affecting the ordinary residents but may affect institutions like hospitals where patients may be on ventilators and other life support systems. Apart from that there are online examinations and classes which students are taking. In many cases, virtual hearing has been disrupted in this court also because lawyers are not able to appear due to the fact that there is no electricity in their offices. In such situations, the disruption of electricity supply can cause irrevocable damage," said the order.
"Shared Great Camaraderie With Ricky Ponting": Punjab Kings New Recruit Shreyas Iyer Om Prakash Chautala, Former Haryana Chief Minister And INLD Chief, Dies At 89 NRI Among Two Dead As Car Crashes Into Tractor-Trolley In Punjab "What Type Of Person...": Revanth Reddy's Big Claim Against Allu Arjun 'Don't Confuse India's Independence With Neutrality': S Jaishankar 2 Dead, Many Feared Trapped For 17 Hours After Mohali Building Collapse GST Council's Recommendations: What's Getting Expensive And Cheaper Watch: Indian-Origin Man Asks King Charles About His Health. His Reply Vanuatu Hit By 6.1 Magnitude Earthquake, Days After Massive Tremor Killed 12 Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.