The Haryana government on Friday said it has told the state electricity regulatory commission to cancel the decision to award a parallel distribution licence to a private firm for Gurugram and Nuh that had triggered a strike by employees of state-owned power company and consequent blackouts in these areas for the past three days.
Government cites public and consumer interest
“The government has also agreed to write to HERC to reconsider its decision to grant the licence which we wanted. “Our employees will now immediately resume their duties. Our position is absolutely firm; there will be no privatisation of any kind,” Saini added.
He added that the government had invoked Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003—which governs the power of state governments to issue policy directions to state electricity regulatory commissions—for approaching the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC). Thus we had called off the strike,” he said, adding further meeting with the energy minister Anil Vij will take place on November 3. It should be noted that the HERC is an independent agency operating under its own Act. ..Exercising our authority under Section 108, the government has directed the HERC to review the matter and effectively cancel that provision,” he said. Energy Minister Anil Vij had earlier indicated that the government would invoke Section 108 to address the dispute. The state government said it was not presently going into the correctness of the findings recorded by HERC in its October 19 order granting the licence.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, at joint press conference with union representatives, said the strike had been called off. All Haryana Power Corporation Workers’ Gurugram district union president Amarjit Jakhar said that they welcome the Haryana government’s decision not to grant licence to the Eleven Power Private Limited. The chief minister said the government had given assurances to the employees before they called off the strike. Instead, it said its decision was based on the financial implications for the state government, consumer interest and wider public interest.
“We have consistently maintained that we stand fully with the electricity employees’ union, and we reiterate that position today.
