Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Friday that electricity department employees have called off their strike after the state government invoked Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, and directed the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to review its order permitting a private company to distribute power in Gurugram and Nuh.
Source: LiveMint
Speaking at a joint press conference in Panchkula alongside representatives of the employees' union, Saini said the government had assured the workers of its support and that they would return to duty immediately. He reiterated that the state government is opposed to privatisation of electricity distribution, saying there will be no privatisation of any kind.
Saini said HERC is an independent body governed by its own legislation and that the government is required to implement its orders. He said the government has now exercised its authority under Section 108 to ask the commission to reconsider the matter and effectively withdraw the provision allowing private distribution. Section 108 allows a state government to issue written policy directions to its electricity regulatory commission on matters of public interest.
Around 40,000 electricity employees and engineers began a three-day strike on October 22 against HERC's decision to grant a 25-year parallel distribution licence to private firm Eleven Power Private Limited for Gurugram and Nuh. Unions said private distribution could affect jobs and affordable power.
The strike disrupted power supply across Gurugram, Faridabad and Nuh, and the outages in turn hit water supply in residential areas as boosting stations stopped working. More than 5,500 complaints were logged with Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam in Gurugram within the first 12 hours, and manufacturing units reported disruptions.
Earlier on Friday, Energy Minister Anil Vij told ANI he had nearly resolved the issue, that union leaders had agreed to a meeting in Panchkula at 3 pm, and that he was confident the strike would end within a few hours. Vij said the union had demanded that the government invoke Section 108, and that he had spoken to the Chief Minister about it.
Source: ANI via Devdiscourse
With the strike called off and staff returning to duty, power and water supply in the affected districts is expected to return to normal. The government's direction to HERC to review the parallel-licence order will now be watched closely by both the unions and the private licensee.