Power sector employees threaten strike against Electricity Bill

NEW DELHI: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has demanded that the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 must be put out in the public domain before starting the discussion on it in Parliament. AIPEF Chairman ShailendraDubey in a statement here said that the Bill is not available on the Power Ministry website.

He said the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 is included in the list of 20 new Bills to be placed in the current Budget session of Parliament. Now the Union Power Minister is to hold a video conference on February 17 with power secretaries of the state and CMDs of the discoms to discuss the proposed amendments in Electricity Act 2003.

AIPEF has threatened a lightning strike against any unilateral move to rush through the Bill in Parliament. AIPEF national executive meeting has been called on February 27 at Mumbai which will decide the future agitational course of action. Dubey said all power engineers across the country will go for nationwide struggle along with 1.5 million power employees against Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021.

AIPEF in its letter to the Prime Minister has mentioned that this is a short cut and rushed through amendments without due consideration or deliberation and is not acceptable.

There have been reports that the Power Ministry has circulated Electricity (Amendment) Bill proposing amendments to the Electricity Act 2003. The proposed amendments entail de-licensing of the distribution business.

A copy of the letter addressed to the Prime Minister has been endorsed to all Chief Ministers with the request to use good offices to ensure that Bill is placed in public domain and all stakeholders including consumers and employees are given the due opportunity to submit their comments on the Bill, AIPEF said.

Dubey said that the reported matters in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 are un-authenticated and deserve to be discarded, particularly as they are tantamount to introducing a drastic policy of separating carriage and content which was earlier rejected by as many as 20 states. (IANS)

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