In protest against the Maharashtra government’s plans to privatise an electricity utility, employees of the three Maharashtra state electricity firms, led by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, went on strike on Wednesday and in part again on Thursday.
The strike was in response to an Adani Group company applying for regulatory approval for a parallel distribution license in the Navi Mumbai region. The three-day strike was withdrawn on Wednesday midnight after a day’s strike, following an assurance from the Maharashtra government about not privatising the utilities.
But the one-day strike disrupted the power supply to both industry and individual customers and impacted the water supply in Pune. Around 30,000 power consumers, including around 1,000 small-scale industrial units in Pune, were impacted because of power supply tripping on Wednesday.
Prashant Girbane, director-general, Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, said that in some areas production was stalled for the entire day and in some others for part of the day, and a few units were not impacted. “The disruption in power supply breaks supply chains, that take longer time than the time of disruption to repair,” Girbane said.