Electricity Workers, Engineers Plan Nationwide Strike Tomorrow Against the Electricity Bill

On the call of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEE), about 15 lakh electricity employees and engineers across the country will go on a one-day nationwide strike on August 10 in protest against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021.

Shailendra Dubey, chairman of All India Power Engineers Federation said that from August 3 to August 6, thousands of electricity employees, junior engineers and engineers from different States, despite the ban at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanded to withdraw the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 through satyagraha.

Speaking to the media, Dubey said, “After the success of the Satyagraha, the electricity workers would go on strike/work boycott one day on 10th August. If the Central Government takes any one-sided action to get the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 passed and this bill is placed in Parliament before August 10, then the electricity workers will strike and boycott the work on the same day.”

He demanded that instead of getting the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 passed by Parliament in haste, it should be sent to the Standing Committee on Electricity Affairs. The most important stakeholders of the power sector, electricity consumers and power employees should be given full opportunity to present their side before the Standing Committee.

Dubey said, “The All India Power Engineers Federation and the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEE) have sent letters to all political parties urging them to oppose this anti-people bill in Parliament.

He added that there has been a positive response from political parties in this regard and not only has the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution opposing the bill, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too have written letters to the Prime Minister opposing it.

“Apart from this, the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi have opposed the bill by making statements. In such a situation, instead of rushing to pass it in Parliament, the Central Government should send it to the Standing Committee,” he said.

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