Puducherry yet again plunged into darkness on Saturday, October 1. The union territory saw a major power blackout, even as the indefinite strike by employees of the Puducherry Electricity Department against territorial government’s decision to privatise electricity distribution entered its fourth day. Angered by the frequent power cuts in the union territory, groups led by MLAs G Nehru and Prakash Kumar staged a dharna in front of the Chief Secretariat and other parts of Puducherry, raising slogans against the Union government for not finding a solution to the issue.
Meanwhile, A Nammassivayam, Electricity Minister of the BJP-led Puducherry government, held an emergency meeting with the Chief Secretary and other top officials of the electricity as well as the police department to solve the issue immediately. The power was restored in most parts of the union territory by 9 pm, after a span of almost 3 hours.
According to a report by The Hindu, the administration, as part of a contingency plan, is reported to have set up a 25-member team from the Power Grid Corporation of India to help with calibrating the power supply across Puducherry.;
Employees of the electricity department began their protest on Wednesday, September 28, against the Puducherry government after it floated a tender to privatise power distribution, More than 20,000 workers is reported to have stopped working as a show of protest and they have also stated that they would not be attending to any issues of power failure, bill collection, meter reading or any kind of maintenance work. One of the main objectives behind the strike is to make the government withdraw from the decision to privatise and to secure the status of the employees as government employees till their retirement.
Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in some critical substations for the contingency staff in case they are confronted by striking employees.