People resort to protest over power disruption

Angry over the night-long power outage in parts of Orleanpet, people blocked the entrance of New Bus Stand, traffic came to a standstill at Pathukannu after residents resorted to a road roko and there were protests on Ginjee Salai and Thuthipet too over power outage

With the indefinite strike by the employees of Electricity Department against privatisation of power sector in the Union Territory entering the second day on Thursday, residents of Puducherry hit the streets following widespread disruption of power supply as a result of the strike. 

After the employees re-launched the protest on Wednesday, there were power cuts in several places forcing people to come out to the streets over the delay in attending to power line disruptions.  Angry over the night-long power outage in certain parts of Orleanpet constituency, people from the locality blocked the entrance of the New Bus Stand. 

Buses were not allowed to enter or come out of the Bus Stand. As a result, the entire stretch of Marimalaiadigal Salai got choked with vehicles for sometime. They withdrew the protest only after the employees from the department attended to the works and restored the supply. 

Traffic came to a standstill at Pathukannu after residents resorted to a road roko in protest against the disruption in power supply. People resorted to protest on Ginjee Salai and Thuthipet over power outage. They complained that employees at the local Electricity Department offices are not attending to calls for repair works. 

“There is no response to our calls. Power went off several times on Wednesday night and during morning hours of Thursday. We have been made to suffer for no fault of ours. The government should try to find an alternate means to restore supply due to faulty lines if the strike continues,” he said. 

The employees have pledged not to attend to any major works till government withdraws it’s decision to privatise power distribution operations in the Union Territory. The department had on September 27 invited bids for transfer of shares to a private player for taking over power distribution.