SHILLONG: Employees of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) will join the nationwide protest by power engineers against the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022.
The BJP-led central government is slated to table the Electricity Amendment Bill in The Parliament on Monday.
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The Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 is to be tabled in the Parliament on Monday to amend the Electricity Act, 2003.
The protest is against privatisation of the power distribution sector.
The bill aims at the entry of private companies into the electricity distribution sector.
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It seeks to enable power consumers to choose from multiple service providers as in the case with telecom services.
The MeECL employees under the banner of Coordination Committee of Registered MeECL Association and Unions (CCORMAU) are of the view that the Electricity Amendment Bill would have far-reaching adverse effects on the power sector, electricity consumers and electricity employees and engineers.
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“Last year, the central government assured that the Electricity Amendment Bill would not be introduced in the Parliament without consultation with all stakeholders, including farmers. There have not been such discussions till date. Now if the central government has taken a unilateral decision to present and pass the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 in the Parliament, then it is a clear violation of the promise given to the United Kisan Morcha,” CCORMAU said.
“Further, despite repeated requests from the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) and All India Power Engineers Federation, (AIPEF) the Central Government has not held any talks with the Electricity Engineers or the employees even once regarding the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022,” the CCORMAU added.
About 2.7 million power sector employees and engineers in India have joined the protest against the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022.
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It is being alleged that the bill would allow licenses to be given to more than one distribution company in the same area which would allegedly favour the private companies.
“The private companies will earn profit by paying only some wheeling charges. As a result, government companies will become financially insolvent,” All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said.