Members of the Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers’ Association (PSEBEA) on Tuesday staged a protest at Faridkot to register their opposition to the unilateral amendment in the Electricity Act 2003.

The engineers in the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) alleged that the Central government was unilaterally resorting to amend the Electricity Act-2003, thereby pushing the sector undertakings into further financial crisis and forcing the common people to face the burden of higher tariff together with snatching of powers from the state governments.

In this amendment, there is a proposal for division of carriage and content which will put the power utilities in backward mode, said Harinder Singh Chahal, joint secretary of the PSEBEA.

The members also condemned the proposed amendment regarding interference of the Central government in matter of the power tariff policy.

They demanded from the state government to take up the issue with the Central government as electricity was a concurrent subject and the proposed amendments were against the basic nature of the federal structure of the country, said Rakesh Kumar, regional secretary, PSEBEA.

The association has already sent a letter to the State Power Minister, apprising him of the stand of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) against the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill-2018.