Chandigarh Blackout: Electricity Being Restored After More Than 36 Hours

After a 36-hour blackout paralysed large parts of Chandigarh, electricity was restored this evening as power department workers ended their strike.

Thousands of homes had been without power and water supply since Monday evening. Government hospitals had to reschedule surgeries and online classes were affected.

Traffic lights had also stopped working in parts of the city.

The administration, in court, accused striking workers of "acts of sabotage".

The electricity workers are protesting against the privatisation of the electricity department which, they fear, 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 also hit industrial production and manufacturing in the city.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court intervened yesterday and summoned the Union Territory's Chief Engineer on Wednesday.

"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".

"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 such situations, the disruption of electricity supply can cause irrevocable damage," the High Court said.

Reports said today, Dharampal, the advisor to the Administrator, decided to take the help of the Military Engineering Service (MES) of Western Command at Chandimandir to restore power. The administration has also sought help from Himachal Pradesh, apart from Punjab and Haryana.