The power engineers and employees nationwide will go on day long protest against the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022 to be tabled in the Parliament on Monday.
The emergency services are exempted from the protest, Madhya Pradesh Vidyut Mandal Abhiyanta Sangh Vikas Kumar Shukla said.
He said the engineers and employees associations has decided to boycott work in Madhya Pradesh too.
The engineers and employees will stage protest infront of the Shakti Bhawan headquarters of various state owned power utilities in Jabalpur.
Shukla said the Union government wants private firms to make profit by using the network of public sector electricity distribution companies in the name of competition as per the draft of the amendment bill.
All India Power Engineers Federation has sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing to intervene in this matter.
So that this bill is not passed in the Parliament in haste and this bill instead should be referred to the Standing Committee on Electricity Affairs of Parliament for detailed discussion with all the stakeholders including electricity consumers and electricity employees, Shukla said.
The electricity is on the Concurrent List of the Constitution which means that the Central Government and the State Government have equal rights in this matter, he said.
The draft bill, signed by the Union Power Minister on 02 August, has been released on 05 August and is being tabled in the Lok Sabha on 08 August.
The Federation has appealed to the Prime Minister not to pass the bill in haste and refer it to the Standing Committee on Electricity Affairs of the Lok Sabha so that the views of all the stakeholders can be taken, he said.
The National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers and All India Power Engineers Federation have already given notice to the Union Ministry of Power that the day the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 will be tabled in the Parliament, on the same day (August 08), all the electricity employees and employees across the country Engineers would stop the work at the same time and hold massive protests throughout the day, he added.
The Federation said that in place of the Electricity Act 2003, a new Act is being made in the matter of electricity, so it is necessary that the process which was followed while making the Electricity Act 2003 should also be followed in making the new Act, Shukla said.
