Chandigarh Blackout: City on its knees owing to 36-hour blackout; Water supply, hospitals severely affected
Medical facilities have been severely affected with Hospitals compelled to reschedule surgeries other procedures, and dispensaries disabled
New Delhi: Following a 36-hour complete blackout in the capital city of Punjab and Haryana due to a three-day strike by electricity department workers, many sections of Chandigarh have been left without electricity or water supply.
The electricity department employees went on a strike protesting against the privatization of the department.
The country’s first planned city has been left with power and water supply since Monday evening, along with havoc on the roads with traffic lights on the blink.
Medical facilities have been severely affected with Hospitals compelled to reschedule surgeries as well as other crucial procedures, and dispensaries disabled.
Work-from-home of the working class and online classes for the students have also been widely affected.
“We have a backup plan like we have generators. But you cannot put 100 percent load of a hospital on a generator. So, we had to reschedule or postpone our planned surgeries,” Chandigarh Health Services Director Suman Singh told news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, no resolution has come out so far out of the meeting Union Territory Advisor Dharam Pal held with the power men’s union to convince them to end their strike.
The Chandigarh administration enforced the Essential Services Maintenance Act, banning the strikes by the electricity department employees for the next 6 months.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court summoned the UT’s Chief Engineer on Wednesday, asking about measures that are being taken to resolve the power crisis in the city.
“It has been brought to our notice that power supply to large parts of the city of Chandigarh has been disrupted. In the circumstances, we are constrained to take up this matter on the judicial side and have consequently requested the learned senior standing counsel, UT, Chandigarh to apprise us of the arrangements which the administration is making to ensure that undue hardship is not caused to the residents of the city,” the court order said.
Anil Mehta, Chandigarh administration’s lawyer, in his response to the court said, “the power failure is on account of acts of sabotage by the striking employees”.