CHANDIGARH: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has demanded that the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 must be put in the public domain before starting the discussion on the same. The draft bill is not available on power ministry website, said V K Gupta Spokesperson AIPEF.
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 17th February with power secretaries
of the state and CMDs of the Discoms to discuss the proposed amendments in
Electricity Act 2003.
Shailendra Dubey Chairman AIPEF in its letter to Union Power Minister has mentioned that
this is a short cut and rush through amendments
without due consideration or deliberation and is not acceptable.
There have been reports in business papers that the Power Ministry has
circulated a draft Electricity Amendment Bill proposing Amendments to the
Electricity Act 2003. The proposed amendments entail de-licensing of the
distribution business and have offered their comments welcoming such
changes.
VK Gupta said that the reported matters in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 are
un-authenticated and deserve to be discarded, particularly as they
tantamount to introducing a drastic policy of separating carriage
and content which was earlier rejected by as many as 20 states.
The outcome of the various suggestions of the stakeholders on the Bill 2020
remains undisclosed and a new draft bill 2021 has been leaked to the selected few.
The present approach of the Ministry of Power is nontransparent and secretive,
and seems that the government is trying to hide secret critical facts.
AIPEF stresses that all the stakeholders including Associations/ Unions of employees and engineers, consumers, and others must be given sufficient time to present their viewpoints State governments