Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 12: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has demanded that the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 must be put in the public domain before starting the discussion on the same.
AIPEF spokesperson V K Gupta in a statement here said that the draft bill is not available on the Power Ministry Website. He said Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 is included in the list of 20 new bills to be placed in the current Budget Session of Parliament. Now the Union Power Minister is to hold a video conference on February 17, with power secretaries of the state and CMDs of the Discoms to discuss the proposed amendments in Electricity Act 2003.
Shailendra Dubey, Chairman AIPEF in its letter to Union Power Minister has mentioned that this is a short cut and rush through amendments without due consideration or deliberation and is not acceptable. There have been reports in business papers that the Power Ministry has circulated a draft Electricity Amendment Bill proposing Amendments to the Electricity Act 2003. The proposed amendments entail de-licensing of the distribution business and have offered their comments welcoming such changes.
Gupta said that the reported matters in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 are un-authenticated and deserve to be discarded, particularly as they tantamount to introducing a drastic policy of separating carriage and content which was earlier rejected by as many as 20 states.
The outcome of the various suggestions of the stakeholders on the Bill 2020 remains undisclosed and a new draft bill 2021 has been leaked to the selected few. The present approach of the Ministry of Power is non-transparent and secretive, and seems that the Government is trying to hide secret critical facts.
AIPEF stresses that all the stakeholders including Associations/ Unions of employees and engineers, consumers and others must be given sufficient time to present their viewpoints State Governments are not the only stakeholder.
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