Srinagar: The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), the national level body of power engineers, has pushed for stopping the implementation of the Electricity Amendment Bill which it said will be detrimental to both employees and consumers across India.
The Engineers’ body expressed various concerns over the bill in the first-ever federal meeting in Kashmir that was held at SKICC Srinagar. The meeting was attended by scores of senior engineers and officials from power departments across various states of India.
In the meeting over 50 delegates mainly from Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Damodar Valley Corporation participated.
During the event Federation Chairman Shailendra Dubey termed the bill as anti-people and anti-employee. While talking to Greater Kashmir on the sidelines of the event, Dubey said that the bill would give free run to private players on the infrastructure built by power departments. He said they will start a nationwide program to stop that from happening.
“We will have to come on the road and one has to be ready for a nationwide strike in protest against any unilateral action of the Central Government. A huge rally will be held in Delhi on November 23 in which employees from power departments of the county will participate. In addition to that, Bijli Kranti Yatras will be started from the eastern, southern, western, and northern parts of the country which will turn into a massive demonstration in Delhi on November 23,” Dubey said.
He said that a massive public awareness campaign will be launched by mobilizing electricity employees and common electricity consumers through Electricity Revolution Yatras.
Power employees across the country have alleged that through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022, the central government is going to privatize the entire power sector.
While speaking to Greater Kashmir, JKEEGA General Secretary, Er Pirzada Hidayatullah said that through the bill private companies will be given the right to supply electricity using the network of government discoms.
“Most of the consumers in the country cannot afford privatized power as subsidies will be removed. The bill will allow companies to use our power infrastructure while minting money, it will directly affect everyone. Only the loss-making poor domestic consumers and farmers will be left with the government power distribution companies. This bill is not keeping the welfare of the poor into consideration. Through today’s meeting we have decided that if the central government makes any unilateral effort to pass the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022, then all the electricity workers and engineers across the country will be forced to go on strike,” Hidayatullah said.
During the event, the delegates said that there is huge resentment among the engineers over the long pending issue of regularization and stagnation of engineers.
They said that J&K Power engineers are suffering on account of non-regularization, and stagnation at all levels as hundreds of vacancies are lying unfilled in the hierarchy. AIPEF extended support to J&K Power Engineers in their struggle for fulfilling their genuine demands.