Major power outages in Chandigarh as employees go on strike
Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Feb, 2022 02:29 PM
Chandigarh, Feb 22 (IANS) Many residential and industrial parts of the city faced major power outages as employees of the Electricity Department went on a three-day strike from Monday night in protest against the privatisation of the department.
Most of the places have been facing snapping of power since midnight.
Even elective surgeries at the Government Medical College Hospital in Sector 32 (GMCH 32) have been postponed.
"Most of the Industrial Area Phase I and II witnessed blackouts since Monday night. Officers are showing helplessness in restoring power. Hope they arrive at some solution for the next two days," said Chamber of Chandigarh Industries President Naveen Manglani.
Officials told IANS that the situation may remain the same for two days more as 1,000 employees began a 72-hour strike on Monday night.
Residents claimed that three helpline numbers set up for registering the complaints have not been responding to the calls.
Chandigarh Adviser Dharam Pal told the media they will investigate the reasons behind the power disruption. "Action will be taken against those responsible," he added.
UT Powermen Union President Gopal Dutt Joshi blamed the winds for the disruption of power in Chandigarh.
"We have not disrupted the electricity supply, but we are on strike. Employees hired from neighbouring Punjab and Haryana probably are not able to detect the fault," he added.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief J P Nadda on Tuesday asked the Congress national leadership to clarify their stand on whether they support the remarks on Kashmir and Pakistan made by party leaders in Punjab. Nadda said that the silence of the Congress leadership will be seen as being implicit to such objectionable remarks.
The farmers union leaders had earlier pointed out that Punjab had failed to hike sugarcane SAP in proportion to Haryana over this period, causing fiscal losses to them.
The Punjab Congress leaders who have distanced themselves from the so-called festering revolt in the party are: Kuldeep Vaid, Dalvir Singh Goldie, Santokh Singh, Angad Singh, Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli, all MLAs, and Bhalaipur Ajit Singh Mofar, a former MLA.
Gurbachan Singh (55) was a relieved man after he welcomed his three sons at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here. They were among the 78 Afghan- Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan on Monday and to Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters along with former Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram, Gandhi said: "The Prime Minister and the BJP said that the Congress had done nothing in last 70 years. There is a list here of all the assets that the Congress has helped build using the public money.
Accordingly, a special Air India flight from Kabul landed at the IGi airport here on Tuesday carrying 44 Afghan Sikhs, who brought three copies of Guru Granth Sahib with them.
