RUPNAGAR : Country’s power sector employees will hold a rally at Delhi on April 3 against the proposed Electricity (Amendment ) Bill, 2014. The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) spokesman VK Gupta said before taking up the bill for discussion in the Parliament, the entire population must be given access to electricity, for which ministry of power had set December 2019 as the target.

“Also, all power utilities must be brought to good financial health and the gap between average cost of supply and average revenue must be bridged,” said Gupta, adding that presently, the actual cost of supply exceeds actual revenue receipt by about 65 paisa per unit.

He said the implementation of Electricity Act, 2003, and the adverse effects thereupon should be reviewed with the target of integrating all the state-owned power utilities and having complete hold upon enactment of the anti-worker and anti-consumer provisions of the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

Gupta urged the Prime Minister to enact the bill only after prior discussion with the power sector representatives as assured by the former power minister Piyush Goyal in several meetings of 2015 and 2016. He said the proposed amendments must be widely circulated and discussed with the states, and the amendments should be kept as enabling and not mandatory.