Most areas in Chandigarh have been facing a power outage as employees of the Electricity Department went on a three-day strike in protest against the privatisation of the department. Lakhs of Chandigarh residents were left without power and water since Monday midnight.
Chandigarh Administrator BL Purohit has banned the strike of electricity workers for 6 months. These orders have been issued under the powers conferred under subsection 3 of the East Punjab Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1968. This is an essential service. In such a situation, it will be in the public interest to end the strike and it is necessary to end the strike. The Administrator has issued orders in this regard on behalf of Dharam Pal, Advisor to the Administrator.
The most affected areas in Chandigarh are Sectors 43, 44, 30, 33, 36, 27, 9, 53, 54, 56, village Kishangarh, Mani Majra and certain parts of Hallomajra. The residents of Chandigarh are blaming the administration for these poor arrangements.
A complaint can be given in the complaint center set up in Sector 15 regarding the problem of water supply in any sector or village. Apart from this, mobile numbers of officers of SDE, ACN and JE ranks have also been issued. But, the numbers given to register complaints are not responding.
Taking cognizance of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the power crisis in Chandigarh, the case has been started. The High Court observed that the disruption in the power supply is causing problems not only in homes but also in hospitals where patients may be on ventilators and other life support systems. Apart from this, online examinations and classes of students are also going on in the city. In such a situation, the High Court has asked UT Chief Engineer CB Ojha to appear in the court on 23 February.
People started questioning the Mayor and administration regarding the power outage.
In response, Chandigarh Mayor, Sarbjit Kaur Dhillon tweeted about the same on Twitter.