LUCKNOW: National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) has decided for a nationwide strike on January 8 and 9 to protest against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014 and privatisation of the sector.

A meeting of the NCCOEEE held at New Delhi on Saturday decided that around 1.5 million power employees and engineers will go on strike for two days in January.

The strike has also been supported by all the trade unions, who were also present in the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by the chairman of the All India Power Engineers Federation Shailendra Dubey.

In a statement here on Sunday, Mr Dubey said that if the Centre tries to bring the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014 in the coming winter session of the Parliament then, the employees will go on a lightning strike without any notice immediately.

"All the trade unions have supported the strike called by the power employees and engineers and they has assured to join the agitation too," he said.

They alleged that the private sector had already siphoned off Rs 2.5 lakh crores from the banks but now the government instead of taking any action was trying to benefit them by bringing the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014, which will give all the power to the government to hand over the sector to the private players.

"We had several rounds of talks with the government and with the Union Power Minister Piyush Goel. But it is unfortunate that even after accepting the proposals given by the employees' unions, the modified draft of the Bill did not include any of the suggestions giving enough indications about the motive of the government," Mr Dubey said.

In the new Bill, there is a provision to set up several power supply companies with universal power supply obligation.

But surprisingly, all the government power companies will have to comply with the universal power supply obligations, but the private companies have been kept aside from their clause.

NCCOEEE has demanded that the electricity (Amendment ) Bill 2014 should be withdrawn and the Electricity Act 2003 should be reviewed to revive the loss.

They have given an example of Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, where there are just one corporation and its earning profit.

They also said that under the new Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2014, the power of the state governments would be lesser and the private companies will rule the roost.