DW BUREAU / PATIALA Power engineers and employees across the country will join a one day work boycott call on August 10 to protest against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021, said V K Gupta, spokesperson of the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF). The Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 has been listed for the monsoon session of Parliament and should not be rushed through and instead should be referred to the standing committee on energy. Electricity Act 2003 allowed the privatisation of generation and now in the proposed bill the privatisation of power distribution is being done which will drive state discoms to bankruptcy. This decision was taken in the virtual meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEEE) held yesterday. The meeting was chaired by Shailendra Dubey Chairman AIPEF and addressed by Prasanta N Chowdhury, Convenor NCCOEEE, KO Habeeb President EEFI, Mohan Sharma PresidentAIFEE, Padamjit Singh, Ashok Rao, Rathnakar Rao from AIPEF Samar Sinha of AIPMF, R K Trivedi of Diploma engineers, and Subhash Lamba and Abhimanyu Dhankar from Haryana. The NCCOEEE core committee office bearers will meet the Union Power Minister on July 27 at New Delhi to hand over a memorandum against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021. The office-bearers of various organisations will hold four-day satyagraha at Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi from August 3 after holding state-level conventions of power employees and engineers in all state capitals on July 29. V K Gupta said that the consumers and power sector employees and engineers, the major stakeholders, are being ignored in finalizing the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021.The central government has not made any effort to discuss the issues with engineers and employees. The move to de-license power distribution is no way to ensure efficient and cost-effective electricity supply to the citizens. Unless the reform is designed scrupulously, taking into account ground realities, the well-intended objective of 'choice to consumers' may not be fulfilled. The move to abolish the cross-subsidy in a time-bound manner and proposing a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to such consumers by the state governments will snatch away the rights of access to electricity for farmers and poor domestic consumers. Gupta further said that the center seems more concerned over the profitability of private power companies than protecting consumer interests. It will be wrong on the part of the center to display a self-righteous attitude and bring in far-reaching statutory changes that cut at the root of federalism. In case the government tried to pass the electricity amendment bill before August 10, the work boycott will be preponed to the same day. (editor@dailyworld.in)