Punjab and Haryana HC pulls up Chandigarh admin for massive power outage across city

The Punjab and Haryana high court has come down heavily on the Chandigarh administration for showing undue hurry over disrupted electricity and water supply in large parts of Chandigarh following a three-day strike by the electricity department workers. The High Court has asked the administration to provide an update on what time electricity is expected to be restored in the city. 

The hearing will resume at 2 p.m. and the Chandigarh administration would be asked to give a time frame for resuming electricity in the city. 

Earlier on February 22, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognizance and had asked the Chandigarh chief engineer to appear before it on February 23. The division bench of Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Pankaj Jain ordered the chief engineer of the Chandigarh administration to apprise the court about the measures taken to resolve the electricity crisis reported in Chandigarh.

The summons came after Anil Mehta, senior standing counsel, stated that the UT administration had submitted before the High Court that the “power failure is on account of acts of sabotage by striking employees”.

Chandigarh power crisis

In a major blackout, a large part of Chandigarh has been left without electricity and water for over 36 hours due to the strike by UT electricity department employees against privatisation. Since Monday evening, thousands of homes have been without power and water supply, and traffic lights have not been working in many areas across the city. It is also learned that government hospitals have rescheduled many surgeries due to this inconvenience.

"We have a backup plan like we have generators. But you cannot put a 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 PTI.

The protest has erupted by the electricity workers against the privatisation of the electricity department. Union Territory Advisor Dharam Pal had held a meeting with the power men's union to resolve the matter and persuade them to call off the strike. But it has not been successful so far. 

According to the protesting employees, the privatisation of the electricity department would change their work terms and also drive up power tariffs.

(Image: ANI/RepresentativeImage)