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Punjab - Power employees including engineers to protest whenever Electricity Bill is tabled in Parl, Nov 29, 2021

Posted On : December 14, 2021

National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE )  decides to hold a day-long massive demonstration on the day whenever Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 is placed in Parliament,
A spokesperson of the All India Power Engineers Federation.(AIPEF) V K Gupta  said here today NCCOEEE is concerned that the agenda of the NDA government shows that Electricity Bill 2021  will be tabled in the winter session of the parliament
 with the object of curbing the right of access to electricity for poor
and rural people of India.
Pertinently,  strike call of 10th. August was withdrawn as the impugned bill was not placed in the monsoon session of the Parliament. In these circumstances, it has been decided to organise the massive nationwide protest demonstration on the day the bill is tabled in the Parliament.

NCCOEEE physical meeting has been scheduled on 03rd December at New Delhi and will decide the future course of action. In case the central government tries to rush through the EA Bill 2021 then lightning action can be taken.
Mr. Gupta said that the real objective of the Electricity (amendment ) Bill 2021 is to privatize electricity distribution under the false pretext of giving consumers the choice to choose their distributor with a view to getting cheaper and better service.
He further said that the main stakeholders of the
 power sector namely electricity consumers and electricity employees should be given the proper opportunity to express their viewpoint on the bill before placing it in Parliament.

UNI GS SY 1650

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The draft proposal is of serious nature for which the present situation of a pandemic is a serious constraint, it stated. The Ministry of Power has once again found peak pandemic time as an opportunity in crisis to launch the draft amendments to National Electricity Policy, it lamented. Once the draft policy is finalised, the notified policy would have the status of “subordinate legislation”, and for this reason, the matters need to deliberate as in the case of the legislation itself or as in the case of amendment in the Act itself, it opined. Draft national electricity policy is pushing for more private participation in the power sector and launching sell out of public assets as at Chandigarh and Dadra Nagar Haveli, it noted. The preferred route being suggested are failed models like the franchisee system, transferring distribution responsibility to a private party, and separation of carriage (lines) and content (supply) business, it opined. Since the existing Policy is in force since February 2005 there was no emergency to totally replace it, while power engineers and workers as front line workers are already stressed in maintaining power continuity, it added All India Power Engineers Federation on Tuesday condemned the central government''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy "to facilitate privatisation". According to a statement by the AIPEF, the proposed changes require extensive discussions as such time for submission of comments should be six months. When fundamental changes are being introduced by way of privatization of the power sector, there is no basis to rush through more so under extreme distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. "All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) condemns the government of India''s move to amend the National Electricity Policy to facilitate the privatization of the power sector," the statement said. The body alleged that this is a clear attempt to introduce privatization through the backdoor and deserves to be scrapped. The purpose of the central government is not to review or revise the existing National Electricity Policy but the total replacement of existing policy with a new policy to be recommended by the expert group so as to achieve privatization, the body alleged. As per Electricity Act 2003, National Electricity Policy is to be prepared in consultation with the state governments and Central Electricity Authority (CEA), a statutory body. However, the body said that the CEA is not included in the proposed schedule of discussion. Further, only 5 states have been included in an expert group instead of all the states, it added. K Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, has stated that India is the only country that readily implemented a slew of reforms and used this crisis to herald a change in India''s economic thinking, it said. The strategy of government seems to be “never waste a crisis” and use the crisis of pandemic to streamroll so-called reforms by way of privatizing, it alleged. The draft proposal is of serious nature for which the present situation of a pandemic is a serious constraint, it stated. The Ministry of Power has once again found peak pandemic time as an opportunity in crisis to launch the draft amendments to National Electricity Policy, it lamented. Once the draft policy is finalised, the notified policy would have the status of “subordinate legislation”, and for this reason, the matters need to deliberate as in the case of the legislation itself or as in the case of amendment in the Act itself, it opined. Draft national electricity policy is pushing for more private participation in the power sector and launching sell out of public assets as at Chandigarh and Dadra Nagar Haveli, it noted. The preferred route being suggested are failed models like the franchisee system, transferring distribution responsibility to a private party, and separation of carriage (lines) and content (supply) business, it opined. Since the existing Policy is in force since February 2005 there was no emergency to totally replace it, while power engineers and workers as front line workers are already stressed in maintaining power continuity, it added
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