The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) is getting feedback from several unofficial sources that the Ministry of Power has circulated the  Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2021. We further learn that this Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 has not been put on the website of the Ministry of Power. It may be noted that in case of the earlier Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2020 the same was put on the website of the Ministry of Power on 17/04/2020 and a period of three weeks was given for filing of comments and objections which was further extended to 5^th June 2020. However, in the present case the period for filing of comments by State Discoms / State Govts only has been stated as two weeks and further the main stakeholders which are the power consumers and electricity workers /engineers / employees have been excluded from the amendment exercise.

2. It is not certain or clear what is the outcome of the earlier bill of 17/04/2020. It would appear to be confusing and contradictory to have several or multiple draft amendments in circulation to avoid any ambiguity; the earlier Draft of 17/04/2020 should be scrapped / withdrawn.

3. From the unofficial feedback given to All India Power Engineers Federation it would appear that the Ministry of Power intends to reintroduce the concept of separation of carriage and content through the backdoor via the new Electricity (Amendment) Bill -2021. All India Power Engineers Federation points out that this concept of separation of carriage and content was earlier vehemently opposed by as many as 20 states and therefore it should not be included directly or indirectly in the amendment bill 2021.

4. Apart from consumers and electricity employees there are several important stakeholders who must not be excluded from deliberation in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2021.

5. It may be recollected that on 3^rd July 2020 the power minster’s conference was held where the Ministry of Power made a commitment that consultation with all stake-holders would be ensured.. In line with this commitment we strongly urge the Ministry of Power to take the following steps on time bound priority.

a) To withdraw the earlier Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill – 2020

b)  To put the new Electricity (Amendment) Bill -2021 in the public domain through public notice on website of Ministry of Power

c) To give an extended period of minimum three months to all stakeholders for submission of comments and objections.

With regards.

Sincerely Yours

Shailendra Dubey

Chairman