The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Friday said power sector employees have planned a work boycott on August 10.

''After four days of successful 'Satyagraha' at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, from Tuesday to Friday, power engineers and employees up in arms against the complete privatisation of the power sector, are now gearing up for the work boycott on August 10,'' AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta said in a statement.

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The Modi government has listed the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to be introduced in Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon session, the statement added.

What electricity employees fear about the contentious Bill is the move towards privatisation of power distribution across the country which is already underway in a few states and Union territories, it stated.

A large number of employees have staged protests despite the fact that permission to hold a dharna on the last three days was refused by the government.

On Friday, AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey, its Secretary-General Rathnakar Rao and TNEBEA President T Jayanthi were the main speakers.

Gupta said many provisions of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, are ''anti-people and anti-employee''; and if enacted, it will have far-reaching adverse consequences.

He demanded that the Bill should be referred to Parliament's standing committee on energy, as the power ministry has refused to discuss the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, with power engineers and employees.

The move to abolish the cross-subsidy in a time-bound manner and proposing a direct benefits transfer (DBT) to such consumers by the state governments will snatch away the rights of access to electricity for farmers and poor domestic consumers, it stated.

The central government seems more concerned over the profitability of private power companies than protecting consumer interests, it said.