On the call of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), power engineers and employees on Wednesday staged a nationwide protest against privatisation policies of the central government and demanded that Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 be withdrawn, All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) spokesperson VK Gupta said.
Gupta said thousands of power sector employees and engineers held protest meetings in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Puducherry, and other states seeking withdrawal of Electricity Amendment Bill 2021, which has been listed for introduction in the winter session of Parliament.
KK Malik general secretary Haryana Power Engineers Association (HPEA) said that Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 should not be passed in Parliament in haste and it should be referred to the standing committee on the energy of Parliament after consulting all stakeholders.
Gupta further said that the power employees and engineers across the country are agitating against the unilateral approach of the Central government to rush through the Bill in Parliament.
"The privatisation of the power sector and monetisation of its assets is not good for the people of the country. Further many provisions of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 are anti-people and anti-employee and if enacted it will have far-reaching adverse consequences. The electricity amendment bill will put the future of over 25 lakh workers employed by the Discoms as well as their families in danger. Consumers will also be badly affected by the Bill instead of benefits, as claimed by the central government, by having the choice to select the distributor. This will simply transfer the ownership to the private company," said VK Gupta.