Telangana: Power sector employees to intensify agitation against Centre’s Electricity Bill

Hyderabad: Strongly opposing the Electricity (Amendment) Bill passed in Lok Sabha on Monday, members of Telangana Electricity Employees Joint Action Committee (TEEJAC) vowed to intensify their agitation against Central government demanding to withdraw it at the earliest. Cutting across the party lines, leaders from Congress, TRS and Left parties expressed their solidarity to the employees […]

Hyderabad: Strongly opposing the Electricity (Amendment) Bill passed in Lok Sabha on Monday, members of Telangana Electricity Employees Joint Action Committee (TEEJAC) vowed to intensify their agitation against Central government demanding to withdraw it at the earliest.

Cutting across the party lines, leaders from Congress, TRS and Left parties expressed their solidarity to the employees and promised to support in their future plans. The leaders took part in a round-table conference organized by the JAC at Press Club in Somajiguda and demanded the Centre withdraw the Bill.

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On their part, the employees registered their protest by wearing black badges and boycott duties at the corporate and circle offices, power generation stations and divisional offices, JAC Chairman K Prakash said.

Those attending to emergency services and others posted at the sub-stations were exempted from taking part in the protest and they continued their duty as usual. The JAC said a request was made to the Ministry of Power to hold consultations in the process of formulation of the Bill.

Till date, no process of consultation was initiated. The Bill was introduced without any consultations with farmers’ organisations, federations of electricity employees and engineers, other categories of consumers who are the major stakeholders.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and his counterparts in other States already opposed the Bill. But the Centre without considering it introduced the Bill, Prakash said.

Explaining the disadvantages in the Bill, he said the main objective of the Central government to introduce the Bill was to hand over the electricity sector to the corporates. As per the Bill, the role of State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) was restricted to strengthen National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC).

The NLDC was supposed to stay away from carrying out economic operations but now it has to do the same as per the norms in the Bill. It will also decide the supply of power from the distribution company to the State concerned apart from deciding the operations to be carried out in the sub-station.

The power generated for Telangana cannot be utilized for Telangana under the Bill, Prakash said. He added the Centre’s decision to set up electricity tribunals in spite of having National and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions was aimed at benefiting the corporate sectors.

TS Transco and Genco CMD requests employees to withdraw agitation

TS Transco and Genco Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao on Monday requested the employees to withdraw their agitation and ensure continuous supply of power to all sectors in the State.

Since the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was monitoring amendments made to the Bill, the employees should withdraw their agitation. Moreover, the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on energy. The Chief Minister has also appreciated the role played by the electricity employees in supplying quality power to consumers during “Swathantra Bharatha Vajrotsavalu” celebrations organized here on Monday.