CHANDIGARH: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has written to the Prime Minister
that the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 should be referred to Parliament's standing committee on energy for detailed discussion with all the stakeholders, in case it is tabled in Parliament. V K Gupta a spokesperson of the Federation said that as per legislative business of August 8, RK Singh, Union Power Minister will move a bill to amend the Electricity Act 2003.
Power engineers and employees from all over the country will
stop the work immediately and will lead to a massive protest on August 8 in case the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 is tabled in Parliament.
The power employees' protest will continue on August 10 at all
the district headquarters of the country as decided by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and
Engineers (NCCOEEE) taken on August 2.
Power sector engineers and employees of all the states across the country have served notice of agitation against the unilateral attempt to get the Electricity
(Amendment) Bill 2022 passed in Parliament.
Despite repeated requests by the AIPEF, the Central Government has not held any talks with the electricity engineers or the employees even once in the last so many years regarding the proposed changes in Electricity Act 2003.
Last year, the Central Government had promised through a written letter to the
United Kisan Morcha that the Electricity (Amendment) Bill would not be introduced in
the Parliament without consultation with all the stakeholders,
including farmers. Now if the central government has taken the unilateral decision to present and pass it in the Parliament, then it is a clear
violation of the written promise given to the United Kisan Morcha.
V K Gupta informed that MPs of many major political parties have
termed the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 as anti-people and declared strong support to the agitation of electricity workers. They have demanded that the bill should be referred to the Standing committee on energy to solicit the views of all the stakeholders.
The central government wanted to give an opportunity to private companies to earn profit by using the network of public sector electricity distribution companies in the name of competition. The consumer wants a cheap and reliable power supply and not the competition.