GURGAON GRIPPED BY POWER PARALYSIS: 40,000 ELECTRICITY WORKERS STRIKE AS HOMES GO DARK, WATER RUNS DRY AND FACTORIES FALL SILENT
October 23, 2026
Gurgaon was pushed towards a major civic and industrial crisis on Thursday as a three-day strike by Haryana's electricity department employees disrupted power supplies across residential neighbourhoods, industrial areas and rural settlements. Thousands of households faced prolonged blackouts, water supplies were interrupted, nearly 1,800 manufacturing units reported disruption, and frustrated residents took to the streets demanding the restoration of electricity. In several localities, power cuts continued for more than 16 hours, exposing the city's dependence on uninterrupted electricity for essential domestic services and industrial production.
The strike, which began affecting electricity supplies on Wednesday night, was called to oppose the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission's decision to grant a parallel electricity distribution licence to private company Eleven Power Private Limited for Gurgaon and Nuh. The licence, granted for 25 years under the Electricity Act, 2003, would allow the company to distribute electricity alongside the existing state-owned distribution utilities. Around 40,000 electricity department employees across Haryana joined the agitation, according to the unions.
For residents, the consequences extended far beyond dark homes. Electricity-dependent water-boosting stations and household motors stopped functioning, leaving families struggling to obtain water for cooking, cleaning and other basic needs. In Sector 9A, approximately 6,000 families were affected after the supply failed around 3.30 am on Thursday. More than 16 hours later, electricity had reportedly not been restored. Residents said inverters had run out of charge and repeated attempts to contact officials had failed to secure assistance.
Hari Nagar experienced a similar crisis, with more than 7,000 families reportedly affected after electricity went off around 10 pm on Wednesday. The accompanying water shortage left households with dwindling reserves and little certainty about when normal services would resume. Residents of housing societies also reported difficulties as backup systems proved insufficient to meet the needs of individual flats, while people working from home, children studying and those dependent on electrically powered equipment faced additional hardship.
Old Gurgaon was among the worst-affected areas. Residents in several neighbourhoods complained that electricity department offices and complaint centres were inaccessible or unable to provide meaningful updates. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam received more than 3,000 complaints within the first 12 hours of the strike, while its helplines received around 5,000 outage complaints on Thursday. Gurgaon has approximately 8.5 lakh electricity consumers, and residents reported widespread disruption across nearly 50 localities.
Anger over the prolonged outages spilled onto the streets on Thursday evening. Residents of Rajendra Park, Bhimgarh Kheri and areas near the Gurgaon railway station road bridge staged a protest after remaining without electricity for hours. Demonstrators raised slogans against the power department and refused to disperse until supplies were restored. Protests over outages were also reported in Faridabad, while several areas of Nuh experienced disruption.
The industrial consequences were equally serious. Nearly 1,800 manufacturing units in Gurgaon's Sector 37 and Kadipur industrial areas reported disruption after power cuts began around 10 pm on Wednesday. Units in Basai were also affected, with machinery stopping and production lines falling idle. The affected businesses included textile manufacturers, export houses, automobile-component producers and suppliers of food to commercial establishments.
Industrialists warned that a prolonged shutdown could cause losses running into crores of rupees and delay production schedules and deliveries. Many businesses attempted to use diesel generator sets, but these could provide only temporary relief because of overheating, cooling requirements and restrictions associated with air-pollution control. The enforcement of the Graded Response Action Plan in the National Capital Region further complicated the situation, leaving manufacturers struggling to balance operational requirements with pollution-control rules.
The unions have maintained that the strike is not about salaries or allowances but about the future of public electricity distribution, the security of employees' jobs and the interests of consumers. Their principal objection is that a parallel distribution licence could undermine the financial position of state-owned utilities, weaken the existing public distribution system and eventually affect the affordability and reliability of electricity, particularly for farmers and economically weaker sections.
Union representatives have also questioned the transparency of the licensing process and demanded details concerning Eleven Power's technical capabilities, financial strength, experience and eligibility. They have called for an impartial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the approval and demanded that the licence be withdrawn. The agitation has received support from several workers' organisations, trade unions and farmers' groups.
The Haryana government, meanwhile, has opposed the licensing decision and announced that it would challenge the regulator's order before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity, seeking an immediate stay. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini appealed to the striking employees to return to work and assured them that the government remained open to dialogue. Energy Minister Anil Vij also urged the workers to participate in the legal challenge rather than continue the strike, while maintaining that the licence had been granted by the independent regulator rather than by the state government.
The government's position, however, has not resolved the central dispute. Electricity employees want a clear policy against parallel distribution licences across Haryana and have indicated that they could consider extending the strike beyond October 24 if their demands remain unmet. Their leaders argue that a legal challenge alone is insufficient without a firm commitment to protecting the existing public electricity infrastructure.
The crisis has left residents and businesses bearing the immediate cost of a dispute over the future ownership and operation of electricity distribution. With exhausted inverters, dry taps, idle machinery and mounting frustration, the Gurgaon disruption has demonstrated how a prolonged interruption in electricity can rapidly affect essential services and economic activity. Until the strike is resolved and normal operations resume, households, workers and manufacturers remain exposed to further uncertainty.
