CHANDIGARH: A National Convention held  in the Capital under the banner of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) decided to resort to one day nationwide  strike On December 7  against the Electricity (amendment ) bill 2014.It was also decided to go on flash strike in case government moves earlier to pass the bill in Parliament.

The Convention was addressed by P N Chowdhury, Shaliender Dubey Chairman AIPEF,Tapan Sen Ex MP , Padamjit Singh Chief patron AIPEF,Amarjeet Kaur of INTUC,Subhash Lamba from Haryana, Rathnakar Rao Secretary general AIPEF, G K Vaishnav, Somar Sinha  and others. 

V K Gupta Spokesperson AIPEF said thar the convention in a resolution adopted unaminously  has sought  intervention from the law makers to keep the Government restrained on the enactment of   Electricity (Amendment) Bill in Parliament without prior discussion with the representatives of organizations of electricity employees and engineers as assured by the former Power Minister. Convention called upon  all section of electricity employees and engineers  to resort to the path of struggle to retain right to electricity for all the Indians irrespective of their purchasing power. 

Shaliender Dubey Chairman AIPEF in his address called  upon the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Members of Parliament and Assemblies to set aside the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014 placed in the Parliament, since almost all the state Governments have opposed the proposition of segregation of carriage and content towards further splitting the power distribution activities. 

 Consequence of enactment of this Bill will boost the cost of supply to sky level. It is very much pertinent to note the plea cited by the Government to enact Electricity Act, 2003 was inefficiency and accumulation of huge losses by state electricity boards. Total accumulated loss after 5 decades of socio-economic development service by SEBs was Rs. 26,000 Crores. Only After 25 years of so called market driven commercial service of all Discoms , summation of accumulated loss and debt burden touched Rupees 1 million Crores even after multi-times tariff hike.    

Padamjit Singh Chief Patron AIPEF   sought  explanation from Government of India, seeking reasons behind the failure to keep their assurance of cheaper power for all through boosting efficiency and competition among private entrepreneurs with implementation of Electricity Act, 2003. Multiple times tariff escalation with connivance of regulators and private players in power sector gave horrible experience through last 25 years.

This convention notes with utter dismay that the motive of the Bill is to create scope of business for private enterprises in power distribution without any investment. They will be given separate profitable segments like sale of electricity to major industry, commercial establishments, railways splitting from un-remunerative loss making segments like rural households and agricultural consumers.  

 The government is pushing the Bill, meant clearly for the profit of private companies, on the false premise that competition will lead to better services for consumers. But the fact is that it is bound to lead to the supply of electricity becoming more expensive — in a country where nearly 30 crore people are still without electricity.