RUPNAGAR: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has appealed to all political parties to include power sector reforms, and remove privatisation, in their manifestoes for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In a statement, AIPEF spokesperson VK Gupta said the process of reforms in the power sector must continue in consultation with all stakeholders.

He said an AIPEF federal executive meeting will be held in Varanasi on April 7 to chalk out a strategy for including its viewpoint on power sector in election manifestoes.

He said the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014, had proposed the segregation of carriage and content with an aim to privatise power supply but was opposed by all power sector engineers and employees.

VK Gupta said that the next government must take into account the various suggestions made by the AIPEF to the power ministry, which include that the provisions in the bill should be enabling and not mandatory for the states.

It should not be binding on the states to privatise power distribution, Gupta said.