Haryana power staff call 3-day strike against giving licence to private discom

The Haryana Electricity Employees and Engineers Joint Front has called a three-day Statewide strike from Thursday to protest against the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (HERC) decision to grant a private company 25-year parallel electricity distribution licence in Gurugram and Nuh. Farmers’ organisations and the Opposition, too, have condemned the move as “anti-people”.

Haryana Power Minister Anil Vij said the decision was taken by an autonomous body despite the State government’s opposition to privatisation. He said it would be challenged before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

In its order dated October 19, the HERC granted Eleven Power Private Limited the licence under Section 14 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Now, over 8.3 lakh power consumers in Gurugram and Nuh, including households, farms, shops, industrial units and offices, can choose between two discoms.

In a statement, the Joint Front alleged that the decision would “undermine” the State-owned Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam by handing over high-revenue areas to a private player. It said the agitation was aimed at protecting the interests of power employees, farmers, and consumers. It announced that the next phase of the agitation and the future course of action would be declared on October 24.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Haryana, has demanded the withdrawal of the licence. BKU State president Rattan Mann said farmers and poor households in Nuh, who benefited from subsidised electricity, could be hit hard as the government has given no written assurance that the subsidies will continue.

‘Will increase costs’

He also alleged that higher power tariffs could increase industrial and business costs in Gurugram and Manesar. He announced a mahapanchayat of farmers, workers, and traders in Nuh over the next 15 days.

Indian National Lok Dal patron Sampat Singh condemned the decision as “a grave and irreversible assault on Haryana’s public power sector; the interests of farmers, rural consumers, and the poor; and the very principle that essential services must serve people before profit”.

“For the first time in Haryana, two discoms have been permitted to operate in the same territory. This has opened the door to a dangerous experiment as electricity is a fundamental public service,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eleven Power has, in a petition, committed to supply electricity on a non-discriminatory basis to all categories of consumers and to supply power on request under Section 43 of the Act, releasing new connections within the timelines specified in the commission’s Electricity Supply Code. The network will be built in phases over five years across all five divisions of the licence area, with Nuh to be included from the first phase, it stated.

Electricity demand across Nuh and Gurugram, including Manesar and Sohna, is rising quickly. Projections set out in Eleven Power’s petition, based on growth rates approved by the commission, show annual electricity sales in the licence area rising from about 12,220 million units in FY 2024-25 to about 18,224 million units by FY 2030-31.

Many commercial establishments, industrial units and high-rise residential buildings in the area continue to depend on diesel generators during outages.

Across Haryana, nearly 1.3 lakh applications for new connections and load enhancement, involving over 2,400 MW of load, were pending as of October 2025.