THE National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) has given the call for a National Protest Day on June 1 against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The organisation demanded its withdrawal.

NCCOEEE, the broad-based united platform of almost all the national federations of electricity employees and engineers, seeks attention of the countrymen to the alarming step the ministry of power is exploring to adopt through a proposed legislation. When the whole country is integrally combating the menace of Covid-19 and is under lockdown, the ministry of power notified the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 on April 17, seeking public comments within three weeks. The main objective of the bill is transferring assets of the power network from generating stations to doors of 25 crore households and farmers’ fields, industries and all levels of consumers developed through seven decades at the cost of public exchequer, to private hands, in other terms cronies closer to government.

“All of you are aware that when the Electricity Bill, 2000 was drafted 20 years ago, to unbundle SEBs, a series of alluring words like cheaper power for all through promotion of competition and efficiency were floated. The Electricity Act, 2003 was passed and in force for a period over 15 years, but none of the words like cheaper power used in the vocal jugglery is found visible. Newly Privatized area like Delhi faced 7 times tariff hike over a period of 12 years. So called efficient multinational AES and indigenous private company BSES of Reliance Energy Ltd miserably failed in Odisha including the creamy layer of the state. OERC revoked its license and the decision of the regulator was endorsed by the Supreme Court,” the NCCOEEE said in a press statement on May 25.

It said franchises experiences of Gaya and other cities in Bihar, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Gwalior and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Ranchi and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Jalgaon and Aurangabad in Maharashtra was worst. Tata and Reliance (now Adani) pushed the tariff level highest in Mumbai. Electricity Employees and Engineers are severely anguished to note that the government’s concern over bad debt of private players and NPAs of banks posed priority and all aspects related to access/right to electricity for poor people has been set aside. The proposed bill has prescribed three-tier privatisation in distribution business. Last tier i.e., franchises will not require any license.

The ministry of power is conceiving innovative idea of informalisation of risk-prone electricity distribution job requiring high level of skill and acumen. We cannot accept this odd intention of the government to make the workmen scapegoat of surrendering safety by the lawmakers. We are thankful to quote Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in this context from his letter addressed to power minister R K Singh: “This will be against the policy of having a check on the enteritis coming into an important sector like power distribution.”

The government has mentioned its utopian explanation in the paragraphs under objects and reasons placed with the draft bill “the act have brought huge direct investment, Public Private Partnership, market development, transparent tariff mechanism etc.” but suppressed the fact of spiraling escalation of tariff, highest contribution of the sector in NPA for the nationalised banks and financial institutions, huge debt burden of the discoms, failure of its much trumpeted UDAY, failure of independent power producers and developers of ultra mega power projects to comply their contractual obligations. UMP Projects was assigned on the basis for 25 years firm tariff based International Competitive Bidding. All of the successful bidders demanded tariff revision within 5 years, Supreme Court denied and government did it through escape route named “high power committee”, in gross travesty of International Trade Practice. Now, the bill proposed to establish an ultrajudicial body named “Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority” to ensure coercive realisation of fixed charge from the discoms even without consuming a single KWH of energy in the pattern of worst ever ENRON scam. Bill has emphatically proposed to promote hydro and renewable power through RPO. But willfully suppressed fact is that only one third of hydro-electric potential of our country has so far been harnessed and exploration of balance potential kept under the carpet.

As a consumer of electricity, you are aware of the policy of cross-subsidy introduced to provide electricity to poorer citizens and farmers from the initial days of establishment of SEBs. The policy permeated socioeconomic development of the country to the extent possible and converting our country from food scarce to food surplus one. The Electricity Act 2003 intended to abolish the system. Upon public pressure the Act was amended in 2007 and benefit of cross subsidy continues till date. Once again, the same draconian policy towards snatching away the rights of access to electricity for the poor people and farmers have been proposed in a new shape. The bill proposed Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by the state governments. All are to note the contradiction in the proposition of the bill. Electricity will be virtually removed from the concurrent list of the Constitution and set to subject of the centre even up to selection of the members of the regulatory commission. Crux of the proposition: states will cease off the power related to electricity but they are to bear the subsidy burden irrespective of financial health of the state. Let us examine the case of the agricultural consumers: a) only the land owners would be eligible to subsidies, whereas cultivation is often done by tillers/share croppers who pay for the electricity; b) the large difference between the cost of water provided by irrigation canals and ground water extracted by electricity will become more unsustainable with increase in the cost of electricity vis-à-vis cost of agro products.

It is envisaged that right to electricity for the consumers will be factored by DBT. Productivity of farmers’ crops might be left upon the fate of DBT or rain fed irrigation only. Would India fall back again to the days of starvation? Governments of Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala have urged the centre to scrap the bill. The bill aims to change the basic characteristics of electricity from a service of socio-economic importance to a market driven profit bound commodity.

NCCOEEE, being the most vibrant united forum of national federations of electricity employees and engineers, will oppose the bill clause to clause before the appropriate forum to foil the attempt of the government towards denying the right of access to electricity for poor countrymen and “annadata” of the nation. Our wider struggle commences with observance of “National Protest Day” on June 1, 2020 all over the country wearing black badges, showing black banners to negate the bill and to seek support of people of India.