CHANDIGARH: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has requested the Government of India to extend the time period for  submitting the detailed comments on Electricity (Amendment ) Bill 2018 by one month .

AIPEF has written to Power Ministry to extend the date for submission of comments till 22nd November as proposed  amendments have  far reaching consequences in the power sector and  the Federation may be able to submit  comments on behalf of power sector engineers working in various state electricity boards.

V K Gupta Spokesperson AIPEF said that the proposed amendments  to the Electricity Act, 2003 are a matter of serious concern as they concentrate all powers in the electricity sector in the hands of central government to the exclusion of state governments and it will lead to complete privatization of power distribution in India. The Electricity Act 2003  followed the World Bank-promoted model of “unbundling” and trifurcated the state electricity boards into generation, transmission and distribution — so that private companies could enter the safer and more profitable aspects, such as generation. Now the amendments in the Act have been proposed with the motive to  impose and hasten privatization of electricity  all over the country.