Electricity bill not cleared; power employees postponed their nationwide strike
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE) has postponed one day nationwide strike call of Power Employees & Engineers after specific statement of Union Power Minister R K Singh that Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 has not yet been cleared by Union Cabinet for placing it before Parliament. NCCOEEE has warned that if any unilateral attempt is made by Central Govt to place Bill before Parliament in the current session then Power Employees will be forced to resort to lightning strike on the same day.
Shailendra Dubey Chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said that NCCOEEE has served a notice to Ministry of Power that strike call of 10th August is postponed till further attempt of the Government towards placing this unconstitutional Bill towards curbing the energy-right of poor and rural people of the country. NCCOEEE will resort to strike action, on the day of placing the Bill in any house of the Parliament in this or any other session of the Parliament in future.
V K Gupta asserted that all the 11 non-BJP states and two Union Territories had opposed the Electricity (Amendment) Bill. Centre’s move to table the Electricity (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, describing it as anti-people and the result of unilateral decision by the central government.
Mamta Bannerji West Bengal Chief Minister in a recent letter to the Prime Minister has mentioned that “Such a laissez-faire approach would result in the concentration of private profit-focussed utility players in the lucrative urban-industrial segments, while poor and rural consumers would be left to be tended by public sector Discoms.
The dilution of the role of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and the state distribution companies implies a political design to demolish state bodies and domestic industries. Direct interference by the central government in activities involving distribution will not at all be helpful to take care of the the interest of the common people and the states.
Last week the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution urging the center to withdraw the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill, 2021,saying it would facilitate free entry of private players into the sector and help vest its entire control with the union government.
August 9,2021
