Power engineers, staff to boycott work on August 10 to oppose Electricity (Amendment) Bill

Protesting against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021, electricity engineers and employees will boycott work for a day on August 10, said All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Wednesday.

The Bill listed for Monsoon Session of Parliament should not be rushed through and instead should be referred to the standing committee on energy, the Federation said in a statement.

The proposed Electricity Act 2003 allowed privatisation of power generation and now in the proposed Bill, privatisation of power distribution is being done which will drive state discoms to bankruptcy, AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta said.

The decision was taken in the virtual meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) on Tuesday.

NCCOEEE core committee office bearers will meet Union Power Minister on July 27 to hand over a memorandum against the proposed Bill.

Gupta alleged that before finalising the Bill, the government has not consulted major stake holders of the power sector including consumers and power sector employees and engineers.

The move to abolish cross-subsidy in a time-bound manner and proposing a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to such consumers by state governments will take away the rights of access to electricity for farmers and poor domestic consumers, it stated.