Electricity (Amendment) Bill – A long drawn battle – Bill could not be passed in 16th and 17th Lok Sabha for the second consecutive time – The Story of Lamp & Storm
- 08 December 2014 - Massive demonstration held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi against the move to introduce the Bill in Lok Sabha.
- Central Power Minister Piyush Goyal called for talks on 08 Dec, 2014. The Power Minister told the delegation of NCCOEEE that this is the desire of the Prime Minister, therefore Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014 will be introduced in the current session of Parliament. However, it will be referred to the Standing Committee of Energy of Parliament and all stakeholders including power employees & engineers will get the opportunity to put their viewpoints before the standing committee.
- 19 December 2014 - Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014 was introduced in Lok Sabha & referred to the Standing Committee on Energy of Lok Sabha headed by Sri Kirit Somaiyya MP.
- 05 May 2015 – The Standing Committee submitted its report without giving any opportunity to AIPEF, NE, and other power employee Federations.
- AIPEF strongly opposed this unilateral act of Central Govt and warned to go on lightning Strike - POWER EMPLOYEES & ENGINEERS TO STRIKE ANY DAY AFTER 21 JULY ON THE DAY WHEN ELECTRICITY (AMENDMENT) BILL 2014 IS TAKEN UP IN PARLIAMENT.
- AIPEF & NCCOEEE served the notice to resort to a one-day Strike on 08 December 2015 against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014.
- 06 & 07 November 2015 - Before the nationwide strike, the power employees and engineers held a massive protest at Kochi during the power ministers conference on November 6-7. The Power Minister was forced to come out from the conference and hold talks with the NCO. Piyush Goyal assured that he will hold detailed talks before passing the bill.
- 01 December 2015 – The Ministry of Power held a meeting with us and requested to postpone the 08 December proposed Strike as the Power Minister was in Paris. So the 08 Dec strike was postponed.
- 21 December 2015 – The Power Minister held a meeting and gave some assurances regarding the Bill.
- 07 July 2016 - UNION POWER MINISTER PIYUSH GOYAL SAID ON 07th JULY THAT the CENTRAL GOVT HAS SENT an AMENDED DRAFT OF the Electricity (Amendment) Bill to State governments which will be an enabling provision and will not be mandatory for states. He said that if it is approved by States then it will be passed by Parliament if not in the monsoon session then in the next session.
- 02 September 2016 – A Nationwide Strike was observed against the Electricity ( Amendment) Bill 2014.
- Protests & demonstrations continued and the Bill could not be passed.
- Sri R K Singh became Power Minister in 2017.
- 14 November 2017 – AIPEF delegation met with new Power Minister R K Singh and briefed him against any unilateral rush through of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014.
- 03 April 2018 – Massive Rally held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.
- 08 June 2018 – NCCOEEE decided to go on a one-day Strike on 07 December 2018 against Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014.
- 07 September 2018 – The Ministry of Power circulated a draft of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2018 with some minor changes but it was also aimed at completely privatizing the power sector. AIPEF & NCCOEEE strongly opposed the new draft and threatened to go on a lightning Strike against any unilateral rush through.
- Before the winter session of Parliament AIPEF appealed to all Chief Ministers to oppose Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2018 as it is against the federal structure and Central Govt is encroaching on the rights of States.
- 08 & 09 January 2019 – Nationwide Total Work Boycott observed against Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2018.
- Due to our continuous protest, massive mobilization, and notice of flash STRIKE, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2018 could not be passed in the 16th Lok Sabha, and thus the Bill lapsed.
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- 08 January 2020 – Nationwide Work Boycott observed against Central Govt policy to introduce private companies as multi-distribution licenses.
- 17 April 2020 - The electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 was introduced by the Ministry of Power during the Pandemic when there was a TOTAL LOCK and no one was allowed to come out from home.
- AIPEF again strongly opposed it and appealed to all Chief Ministers and all political parties to oppose it.
- 13 May 2020 – The Central Finance Minister declared that the power department of all Union Territories will be privatized and finalized the dateline of 31 December 2020.
- 02 June 2020 - Electricity employees and engineers across the country took to the streets regardless of the Pandemic and legal restrictions and held protest demonstrations throughout the country against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the move to privatize the power distribution in union territories.
- AIPEF and its constituents started a campaign to educate all Chief Ministers against this Bill.
- 03 July 2020 – Twelve Chief Ministers strongly opposed the Bill in an Online meeting convened by Power Minister R K Singh.
- 18 August 2020 – Massive demonstrations were held during the Pandemic against the Bill and privatization of the power department of Union Territories.
- 28 September 2020 – AIPEF Chairman was arrested in Lucknow while leading a Mashal Juloos (Torch Procession) on the birthday of Shahid E Azam Bhagat Singh. Against his arrest, more than ten thousand power employees voluntarily gave court arrests in different parts of UP. They were opposing the privatization of Varanasi Discom.
- 06 October 2020 - Ultimately Govt came on the back foot and through a written agreement it was assured that the privatization proposal of Varanasi DISCOM is withdrawn and no further privatization will be done in Power Sector in UP without taking power engineers in confidence.
- 09 October 2020 – Standard Bidding Document draft was circulated by the Ministry of Power. AIPEF strongly opposed it and it could not be finalized.
- 26 November 2020 – Nationwide massive demonstrations were held against the amendment bill and UT privatization. Lakhs of power employees in every district came to the streets during the Pandemic.
- 01 February 2021 – Central Finance Minister announced in Budget multi discoms with no requirement of distribution license.
- 02 February 2021 – The Ministry of Power circulated the draft of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021.
- 03 February 2021 – One-day Token Strike was observed throughout the Country against this move and UT Privatization. The Central Govt warned of a lightning strike against any unilateral move.
- During the monsoon session of Parliament four day Satyagrah (Region wise South, West, Eat and North) was held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
- 10 August 2021 – Observed nationwide work boycott against Central Govt move to introduce Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the monsoon session of Parliament.
- 15 December 2021 – Massive demonstration held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.
- 17 December 2021 – Power Engineers go on strike against forming JVC to privatize the power sector in J&K. The AIPEF Chairman led the movement and remained there for a week. Ultimately a written agreement was signed and the proposal of JVC was dumped.
- 01 February 2022 – Nationwide Protest meetings held against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 and the privatization of Chandigarh and Puducherry.
- 02 February 2022 – Strike in Puducherry. The AIPEF Chairman remained during a strike in Puducherry. CM Puducherry held a meeting and the privatization proposal was put on hold.
- 23 February 2022 – Two-day Strike in Chandigarh. AIPEF led from the front.
- 19 March 2022 – Convention in Chandigarh against Privatization.
- 03 August 2022 – When it was known that the Govt would introduce the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the monsoon session itself then AIPEF & NCCOEEE gave a Call for spontaneous lightning action against any attempt to rush through EA Bill 2022 in Parliament.
- 08 August 2022 - In protest against the introduction and passing of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 in Lok Sabha, lakhs of electricity workers and engineers of the country stopped work and took to the streets: Demanding to withdraw the anti-consumer and anti-employee bill.
- Nationwide Protest and mass mobilization and educating all political parties – the Central Govt was forced to refer the Bill to the Standing Committee.
- 01 October 2022 – Nationwide Protest in support of Puduchery Power Engineers and Employees Strike. Again the AIPEF Chairman reached Puducherry and led from the front. After several rounds of talks with CM Puducherry privatization process stalled. Before this during the Strike, more than 300 power employees were arrested at midnight but the UT Govt was forced to release them in the Morning.
- 23 November 2022 – Historical rally at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. It was the largest-ever rally of power engineers & employees in Delhi.
- A supplementary agenda to introduce Bill 2022 was suddenly issued during the monsoon session of Parliament on 06th August 2022 without any predetermined agenda. On the same morning, the bill was to be introduced, another supplementary agenda was issued on 08th August in which it was written that the bill would be introduced and passed. This was a very difficult time. But we did not lose courage. We had already educated all the main political parties in this regard and had sent the necessary documents. As soon as the bill came in the Lok Sabha, all the major political parties strongly opposed it. Very humbly I would like to say that the document that was in the hands of the protestor MP's was provided by us. There was such strong opposition that the bill could not be passed in the Lok Sabha and it was sent to the Standing Committee. At this time the Chairman of the Standing Committee was Sri Lalan Singh whose party had separated from the NDA alliance at that time. How hurried the Central Government was in passing the bill shows that after sending the bill to the Standing Committee, Sri Lalan Singh was removed immediately from the post of Chairman of the Standing Committee, and Sri Jagdambika Pal, who is an MP of the ruling party, was made the Chairman. Sensing all the adverse circumstances, we demonstrated strongly before the start of the winter session of the Lok Sabha on 23 November 2022. This demonstration was the biggest in Delhi by power engineers & employees to date. We continued the campaign to educate political parties. Also maintained pressure on the Standing Committee. The result was that the Government could not pass the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 even if it wanted to. Now the tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha is ending. The last meeting of the 17th Lok Sabha has taken place. In such a situation, this bill has once again lapsed.
- It is historical in itself that in the last 10 years, the Central Government proposed the draft of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill five times but the Government could not succeed in two consecutive Lok Sabha tenures and the bill lapsed again, which has become a remarkable event.
- We would like to humbly say that this is not a normal incident. However, the danger is not over. Elections for the 18th Lok Sabha are going to be held. After the elections a new Government will be formed and the attempt made in 16th & 17th Lok Sabha Can be made once again.