Haryana power strike news: No electricity or water for thousands in Gurugram; businesses fear millions of losses | Details

Thousands of households in Gurugram faced power outages and water shortages on Thursday, while nearly 1,800 manufacturing units reported disruption as a three-day strike by Haryana Power Department employees affected power supply across the city.

The strike, which began affecting supplies on Wednesday evening, was called to protest the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (HERC) decision to grant parallel electricity distribution license to private company Eleven Power for Gurugram and Nuh.

The outage affected residential areas, industrial clusters and rural areas, with residents complaining that electricity and helpline officials failed to provide timely assistance. Times of India reported.

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Thousands of households face power outages, water shortages

Gurugram, which has around 8.5 lakh electricity consumers, witnessed widespread blackouts, especially in Old Gurgaon. Residents said more than 50,000 homes in the area were affected on Thursday.

The official said the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) received more than 3,000 complaints in the first 12 hours of the strike, while its helplines received about 5,000 complaints of outages on Thursday.

Around 6,000 families were affected in Sector 9A after the power went off at around 3.30 am on Thursday. The outage also disrupted a supply station in the area, leaving households without water.

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“I have called the officials almost 50 times, but no one is responding. There is no electricity in our houses. The inverters have run out and now there is no water either because the booster station has been hit. How are people supposed to manage their daily needs?” Suraj Bhola, general secretary of RWA sector 9A, told TOI.

In Hari Nagar, more than 7,000 families were affected after electricity supply stopped around 10 pm on Wednesday, residents said. Outages were also reported in Nuh, including Punhana, Nagina and Firozpur Jhirka.

Almost 1,800 production units were discontinued

The power crisis has affected nearly 1,800 manufacturing units in Sector 37 and Kadipur industrial areas, with industrial units in Basai also reporting outages. Manufacturers said machines stopped and production lines stopped, raising fears of losses running into crores of rupees and delays in deliveries.

Deepak Maini, president of the Progressive Federation of Trade and Industry (PFTI), said there was no power supply in Sector 37 as of 10 pm on Wednesday.

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“Power outages in industrial units have halted machinery and production, impacting business operations. As operations in hundreds of units have been suspended, the risk of losses has increased,” Maini said.

Manufacturers tried to use diesel generator sets, but stated that these could not sustain continuous industrial operation. The enforcement of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) from Wednesday further complicated the situation by curtailing generator sets meant to control air pollution in the National Capital Region.

“The generator is meant for backup, not regular power. It gets hot after running for a few hours and needs to be switched off to cool down,” industrialist Vikrant Gupta told TOI.

Why are electricity workers on strike?

HERC’s October 19 order granted Eleven Power Private Limited a parallel electricity distribution license for Gurugram and Nuh for 25 years under Section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003.

The Haryana Bijli Karamchari and Engineers Joint Sangharsh Morcha opposed the decision, arguing that private distribution could jeopardize public services, employees’ jobs and available electricity. According to the union, around 40,000 electricity department employees across Haryana have joined the strike.

The state government said it will challenge the HERC order at the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) and seek an immediate stay on its implementation.

Power Minister Anil Vij called the strike unnecessary and claimed that the decision to grant the license was taken by an independent regulatory body and not the state government. He urged employees to return to work and take part in the legal challenge.

“I am against privatization because significant public money has been invested in the infrastructure and the jobs of the employees are at stake,” Vij said.

However, the unions are demanding withdrawal of the license and a clear policy excluding parallel distribution licenses in Haryana. With power outages in homes and industrial areas, residents and businesses continue to face uncertainty as to when normal services will be restored.