All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) strongly condemned the timings of Power Ministry move to bring back the
Electricity Amendment bill 2020 when the whole country is fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ministry of Power has circulated draft Electricity Amendment bill 2020 yesterday amongst all state governments and has sought their comments within 21 days.
V K Gupta spokesperson AIPEF said that the bad experience from COVID 19 crisis, should have led to nationalize all sectors including power across India. At this juncture, the Government of India's step of privatization of the power sector through the proposed amendments in the Electricity Act 2003 is "ill-timed and ill-intentioned ".
While the economy of the whole nation is paralyzed and administration is in doldrums the timing is not suitable for introducing the enactment of amendments to any law under such conditions and thus Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 be put on hold.
AIPEF has written a letter to Union Power Minister demanding that the proposed date of receipt of comments should be extended to September 30
as no discussion can take place due to lockdown conditions.AIPEF also urges all state governments to seek extension in time for giving their
proper reply
Gupta sais that at first glance, The purpose of Amendment bill 2020 seems to be to privatize discoms and ensure payment to private generators. The introduction of distribution sub-licensee and franchisee without separate licenses for them and no schedule or dispatch of electricity without the security of payment clearly points towards the intentions of the power ministry.
Govt. is out to destroy the state sector despite the fact that during the COVID crisis, only the state sector companies stood by the Govt, while private entities were nowhere visible in this bad time on the Country.
The proposed amendments in the Electricity Act will increase the electricity tariff exponentially. Already due to private generators average tariff across India is Rs. 8 and with these proposals, it will rise to Rs. 10, said Padamjit Singh Chief Patron AIPEF.