Rohtak, Oct. 23 -- Around 40,000 electricity department employees on Thursday began a three-day strike against the entry of a private power distribution company in Gurugram and Nuh, leading to disrupted supplies in several residential and industrial areas due to unattended breakdown complaints. The Haryana Electricity Employees and Engineers Joint Struggle Front called for a three-day strike after the state's power sector regulator, Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), on October 19 granted a licence to a private company to supply electricity in Gurugram and Nuh districts along with the existing state-owned discoms. The impact of the strike was particularly severe in urban areas and industrial feeders, where outages disrupted household water supplies, office work, and students' preparations for competitive examinations. The strike, called from October 22 to 24, began at 10pm on Wednesday. The employees have warned that they will not attend to routine breakdowns during the agitation. Meanwhile, constituent organisations of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the Sarv Karamchari Sangh Haryana and several trade unions, including CITU, AITUC, INTUC, and AIUTUC, extended their support to the strike. In Rohtak, the district helpline had received 1,022 complaints by Thursday morning, while several villages reported power cuts and faults on urban and rural feeders. Superintending engineer Ashutosh Kumar Panchal, posted in Sirsa, said staff from other departments had been deployed. Of approximately 900 feeders in the district, 30 were reported to be non-functional at the time of the assessment. The state government has activated contingency arrangements to maintain essential services during the strike. The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) deployed senior engineers from its Panchkula headquarters to monitor operations across Haryana. In Kaithal, police personnel were seen handling complaints at electricity offices, while private contractors were being used to repair faulty feeders. Meanwhile, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini held a review meeting with senior officials ahead of the strike and appealed to them to call it off, assuring them that the government stood with them and that the doors for dialogue remained open. The strike has been called in protest against the HERC's decision to grant a 25-year parallel electricity distribution licence to Eleven Power Private Limited for Gurugram and Nuh districts. Jagdish Nirala, legal adviser to the Front, alleged that the government was pursuing privatisation through the back door. Haryana energy minister Anil Vij termed the three-day strike by electricity employees unnecessary, saying the state government was challenging the HERC's decision before the APTEL. Vij said the government had strongly opposed the licence before the regulator by engaging a senior lawyer but the decision went against it. Former Haryana finance minister and INLD patron Sampat Singh also criticised the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana for pursuing with privatisation. Demanding immediate cancellation of the licence, Singh urged the CM to invoke Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003, to issue a written policy directive in the public interest....