Many parts in Chandigarh faced power outages on Tuesday, a day after employees of the electricity department launched a three-day strike in protest against privatisation.
The outage since Monday night forced government hospitals in the union territory to reschedule elective surgeries, besides adversely affecting residential, industrial and commercial areas in the city.
Though officials of the Chandigarh administration claimed necessary arrangements were being made to maintain continuity of power supply, residents and traders in many areas of the city complained of outages.
Power disruption has also hit industrial production and manufacturing at some units in the city.
“Shopkeepers and traders are feeling harassed over the disruption of electricity supply in the city. Electricity is an essential service and the administration should take appropriate steps to restore it,” said Chandigarh Beopar Mandal president Charanjiv Singh.
Online classes of students were also affected in many areas in the city. Some coaching institutes even suspended classes for the day because of power outages.
Honey, a student of Class 11, said, “I could not take my economics subject test today as the coaching centre suspended classes because of power shutdown.” Aditya, a Class 12 student preparing for his board exams, said, “I could not take my online classes today because there is no electricity since the morning, and the power backup at my house has gotten discharged. This kind of situation at a critical juncture has adversely affected several students like me.” The areas which faced power outages included sectors 20, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 49, 36, Kishangarh and Manimajra.
Traffic lights at some intersections were also non-functional because of the outage.
Employees of the electricity department, under the banner of the UT Powermen Union, went on a strike on Monday night.
President of the union Dhian Singh said they are protesting against the UT Chandigarh administration’s decision to privatise the electricity department.
The protesting employees claimed that if the electricity department was privatised, their service conditions would change and it also could lead to a rise in power tariffs. They also held a massive protest here.
Chandigarh Health Services Director Dr Suman Singh said government hospitals, including the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, had to postpone their planned 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,” she said, adding electricity supply to hospitals should not be disrupted at all during any protest.
Meanwhile, the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on Tuesday said it is coordinating with the UT administration to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
“The situation is being viewed seriously and a SE (Superintendent Engineer) has been deputed at the 66 kV substation here. For the critical areas, we have a backup of DG sets. We are microscopically monitoring to ensure that no hospital service is impacted,” the PGIMER said in a statement.
