Chandigarh residents face hardship amid three-day strike against power privatization

Chandigarh residents face hardship amid a three-day strike launched by Chandigarh electricity department employees against the Union Territory administration's decision of power privatization.

The residents urged the government to resolve the issue of power outage in Chandigarh as soon as possible.

Speaking to ANI, Anita, a homemaker said, "Children can't take online classes as phones are discharged. Elder people are facing trouble during the night, we can't even cook dinner and there are no lit street lights. The government should find a solution."

"A lot of time has passed without electricity, no one is coming to help us, otherwise they (political parties) come door-to-door during elections. This is the first time Chandigarh has experienced such a shortage of electricity," said Kamla Devi, another homemaker.

The Joint Action Committee and the Coordination Committee held a meeting on the subject and opposed the imposition of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) by the administration.

The Coordination Committee officials confirmed that the power workers are opposing the sale of a profit-making department to private hands.

As per information, Dharampal, Advisor to the Administrator, has decided to take the help of the Military Engineering Service (MES) of Western Command at Chandimandir to restore power. Apart from this, along with Punjab-Haryana, now help is also being sought from Himachal Pradesh.

MES is one of the oldest and largest government defence infrastructure development agencies in India.

"They are opposing the administration's decision of privatization of the department. So they have decided to hold a strike and protest to look into the matter," Dhyan Singh, President, UT Powermen Union, Chandigarh.

Today, the senior officials of UT Administration and representatives of the UT Powermen Union also held a meeting, but the outcome of the meeting has not been confirmed yet. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo moto in this matter will also hear the matter today.

( With inputs from ANI )

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