On Thursday, Gurugram residents endured power outages and water shortages as Haryana electricity workers launched a three-day strike. The protest, which disrupted supplies from Wednesday night, targeted the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (HERC) decision to award a parallel distribution license to Eleven Power for Gurugram and Nuh, sparking concerns over public utilities and job security.
The outage spread across city homes, factory zones and countryside locales, and locals said the power agency and its hotlines did not give prompt assistance. Reports indicate that thousands of homes suffered blackouts and lack of water, especially in Old Gurgaon, where over 50,000 residences were impacted on Thursday.
An official said Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) received more than 3,000 complaints during the first 12 hours of the strike, while its helplines received around 5,000 outage complaints on Thursday. In Sector 9A, around 6,000 families were affected after power supply stopped at approximately 3:30 am on Thursday.
The power failure also knocked out the local water-boosting plant, cutting off water supplies for residents. Suraj Bhola, the Sector 9A residents’ welfare association’s general secretary, remarked, “I have called the officials nearly 50 times, but nobody is responding. There is no electricity at our homes. Inverters have run out, and now there is no water either because the boosting station is affected.”
Widespread Power Outages Reported
Residents of Hari Nagar reported that over 7,000 households lost power when supply ended at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Similar blackouts were noted in Nuh district, affecting areas such as Punhana, Nagina and Firozpur Jhirka.
About 1,800 factories located in the Sector 37 and Kadipur industrial zones experienced interruptions because of the electricity shortage. Company owners reported that equipment halted and assembly lines stopped, sparking worries over potential losses worth crores of rupees and postponed shipments.
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Deepak Maini, who heads the Progressive Federation of Trade and Industry (PFTI), noted that power had not been restored in Sector 37 since 10 p.m. on Wednesday. He added, “Power cuts at industrial units have brought machinery and production to a halt, impacting business operations. With operations suspended across hundreds of units, the risk of losses has increased.”
Firms tried to rely on diesel generators, yet they reported that such equipment could not maintain nonstop industrial activity. The rollout of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) beginning Wednesday added to the difficulty, as it imposed limits on generator usage to curb air pollution across the National Capital Region.
Dispute Over Electricity Licensing
HERC’s October 19 order granted Eleven Power Private Limited a parallel electricity distribution licence 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 threaten public utilities, employee jobs, and affordable electricity.
Union sources state that around 40,000 electricity department employees joined the strike. The state administration announced plans to contest HERC’s ruling before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL), requesting an instant stay on its execution.
Energy minister Anil Vij described the strike as unwarranted, saying the licensing choice was made by the autonomous regulator, not the state authorities. He appealed to the workers to resume duties and join the court battle. Nevertheless, the unions demand the licence be revoked and a definitive policy that bans parallel distribution licences throughout Haryana.