(This story originally appeared in on Jun 19, 2015)

NEW DELHI: Large parts of the capital suffered power cuts on Thursday as striking contractual employees of the two BSES discoms resorted to sabotage by shutting off supply at substations. The Delhi government is considering invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act ESMA ) if the crisis grows.The sabotage, coming just a day after Delhi government announced a slew of measures to tackle power cuts, affected supply across south, central and west Delhi, hitting 15 of the 20 divisions under BSES.The workers, who are demanding regular jobs, later agreed to hold their 'operation' for two days after CM Arvind Kejriwal reached out to the union through its patron Somnath Bharti.The cuts started from Wednesday evening, when contractual workers under the Delhi vidyut board employees union started shutting off power supply in Masjid Mod, CR Park, New Friends Colony, Greater Kailash I and II, Sarita Vihar, South Extension, Kalkaji, Nehru Place and surrounding areas.The striking workers also reportedly damaged substations in BRPL's west Delhi areas of Hari Nagar, Paschim Vihar, Tilak Nagar and Karol Bagh.The union later said it was suspending the sabotage action temporarily. "All other services would continue to remain suspended. Only power has been restored. But this is also for just two days. If our demands are not met, we will go back to a full blackout of Delhi," warned union general secretary D C Kapil.Delhi Police said they received calls from officers in-charge of substations in many areas about workers protesting outside their offices and forcing them to shut down. Police force was sent to several such locations. Some workers were also detained when they tried to enter offices of senior personnel but were later released.The union employees' agitation started earlier this week, but intensified from Wednesday evening. Discoms BRPL and BYPL then sent SOS messages to the government, LG office and asked for police intervention to stop the attacks on their substations.The government, worried that vested interests were inciting workers to sabotage the power supply, is monitoring the situation closely. TOI learnt that the power department has been put on alert and is studying the provisions of ESMA in the eventuality that the crisis worsens.A BSES spokesperson said disciplinary action had been initiated against a few employees (and contractual staff) for indiscipline and violating service standards. "Unfortunately, in reaction, a few of the disgruntled contractual employees resorted to illegal disruption of work at certain places in south and west Delhi. The situation has been largely brought under control," the spokesperson said.Meanwhile, the striking employees justified their strike. Said union general secretary Kapil, "There are 30,000 contractual employees with the three discoms. BSES has about 20,000. Most of them have been working for 10 years or so without being made permanent."To skirt a Supreme Court order stipulating that contract staff working for eight months had to be made permanent, Kapil said these workers were being shunted from one company to another every four to five months."Only 50% of their salary is paid while the remaining is handed out to officers. The affected employees include all levels of workers including labourers, linesmen, bill distributors, meter readers, meter installers, engineers, payment recovery personnel and even stenographers," he said.