Historic victory of Haryana power employees; the strike is called off

The Electricity Employees’ Federation of India salutes the power employees and engineers of Haryana. Under the Haryana Electricity Employees and Engineers Joint Struggle Front they have brought a historic two-day statewide strike to a successful close. The strike began at 10 pm on 21 October and continued with full strength through 22 and 23 October. It has forced the Government of Haryana to agree to issue a policy direction under Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, against the parallel distribution licence granted to Eleven Power Private Limited for Gurugram and Nuh.

The Chief Minister has announced this decision in public, and has made it clear that a parallel licence will not be allowed in Haryana. In the light of these assurances, the Joint Struggle Front has decided to call off the strike.

About 40,000 to 55,000 employees and engineers joined the strike across the state. Participation was near-total in both Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, and in the transmission utility. Supply came to a standstill in large parts of Haryana. Long outages disrupted homes, water supply, offices and industrial units. Residents faced blackouts of many hours, and still stood with the cause. Farmers’ organisations, trade unions and ordinary consumers gave support even while they bore the inconvenience. Employees kept essential supplies to hospitals protected. The strength of the strike, and the public’s solidarity, made the agitation a people’s movement.

The government’s decision to issue a Section 108 policy direction, and the Chief Minister’s public announcement that a parallel licence will not be allowed in Haryana, are a significant victory of the struggle. EEFI welcomes this stand. It calls on the government to issue the written direction without delay, to place it on record in the appeal before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, and to ensure that no step is taken to put the Eleven Power licence into operation.

The 48-hour strike has shown that electricity employees and engineers, supported by the people, will not allow public distribution utilities to be weakened for private profit. The fight against the parallel licence is not over. The written direction is now in hand. Vigilance has to continue until the Commission acts on it, the appeal is pursued, and the licence is not allowed to take effect. EEFI congratulates every employee, engineer, farmer, worker and citizen who made this struggle a success.

The Energy Department has addressed the Secretary of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission. The direction is under sub-section (1) of Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003. It concerns the Commission’s order of 19 October 2026 in Petition No. 30 of 2026, which granted Eleven Power Private Limited a parallel distribution licence for Gurugram and Nuh. The government says it is not, in this letter, going into whether the Commission’s findings are correct. It records that the grant was opposed — on capital, credit, technical capacity, the universal service obligation, the picking of high-revenue consumers, cross-subsidy, stranded costs and a second network — and that a parallel licence departs from the present policy. The operative line directs the Commission not to create, operationalise or effectuate a parallel distribution licence anywhere in Haryana. The text says the directions are issued with the approval of the Chief Minister. The copy is signed by the Chief Minister and by the minister. The number and the day of the month are blank on the scan. The signed direction is attached.