Kohima (Nagaland) [India], April 16 (ANI): The Nagaland government has refused to grant casual leave to protesting doctors in the state who are demanding an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.

Chandigarh Feb 23 PTI Protesting employees of the city electricity department on Wednesday evening called off their strike while power supply has also been restored in the most parts of the city The decision to call off the three-day strike that was to end on Thursday night was taken after a meeting between the representatives of the UT Powermen Union and senior officials of the Chandigarh administration The city residents have faced the worst-ever electricity crisis in the history of Chandigarh as the disruption in power supply adversely affected residential industrial and commercial areas Even the government hospitals in the union territory had to reschedule elective surgeries Employees of the electricity department under the banner of the UT Powermen Union had gone on a strike on late Monday night against UT Chandigarh administrations move to privatise the department After the meeting with the officials of the administration UT Powermen Union president Dhian Singh said they have called off the strike Addressing the media on Wednesday evening Dharam Pal adviser to the UT Administrator said power to most of the areas has been restored since the staff has joined their duties Some areas might still be affected but we will restore power in those areas as well by today evening said the adviser The Chandigarh administration on Tuesday evening had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act banning strikes by the electricity department for six months He said the armys help was also taken to restore the electricity in the city Six feeders were restored Tuesday night he said adding that by Wednesday noon power supply in 80 per cent of the area was restored Pal also read out the proceedings of the meeting with the union members and said that the union requested that the sympathetic view should be taken regarding those employees who join their duty on Wednesday itself The Deputy Commissioner Chandigarh assured that a reasonable sympathetic view will be taken regarding such employees who joined their duty today he said Appropriate legal action will be taken against those employees who will still be absent from duty he further said The adviser said on the request of the union the deputy commissioner assured that the department will not issue LoI letter of intent to a selected private agency till the next date of hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High Court The matter pertaining to the privatization of the electricity department is pending before the high court Notably in 2020 the Chandigarh administration had decided to privatize the department and later the UT Powermen Union approached the high court against this move The Chandigarh administration on Wednesday assured the Punjab and Haryana high court that it would restore 100 percent electricity by 10 pm The high court on Tuesday had taken suo-motu notice of the electricity crisis and had asked the UT chief engineer to appear before the court on Wednesday Residents of Chandigarh at some places faced power outages on Wednesday morning Harried residents of the union territory Chandigarh which is the common capital of Punjab and Haryana had blamed the city administration for remaining a mute spectator leaving them in lurch as the power outages crippled the city Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari on Wednesday had sought intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the matter saying there is chaos and anarchy and all essential services have come to a standstill PTI CHS VSD MR MR

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 4 (ANI): Maharashtra State Transport Minister Anil Parab on Friday said that the state government is seriously considering taking action under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, in view of the strike called by the employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.