Electricity Amendment Bill: Powermen’s 4-day “Satyagraha” from today

POWER MEN ARE AGITATING AGAINST THE UNILATERAL APPROACH OF THE CENTRE

LUCKNOW: Power employees and engineers will hold a four-day “Satyagraha” at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from Tuesday against the Centre’s announcement to pass the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the current monsoon session of Parliament, All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) chairman Shailendra Dubey said in a statement here on Monday.

The call for the agitation, he said, had been given by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers. “Power employees of northern, eastern , western and southern regions will participate in the ‘Satyagraha’ on August 3, Aug 4, August 5 and August 6, respectively,” Dubey said. He said power personnel, across the country, were agitating against the unilateral approach of the Centre to rush through the Bill in Parliament. He claimed that many of the provisions of proposed Bill were anti-people and antiemployee and if enacted it would have far reaching adverse consequences.

He demanded that the Bill should not be passed in Parliament in haste and should be referred to the standing committee on energy of Parliament. He further said that 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. “After Satyagraha in Delhi, about 1.5 million power employees and engineers will resort to one day strike/work boycott on August 10 across the country and if the Bill is passed in the meantime all the power personnel would proceed on strike the same day,” he warned.