Press Release of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF)
Power employees, farmers, and trade unions have come together against electricity privatization, the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the privatization in Uttar Pradesh being carried out through repression and harassment, deciding to run a broad campaign against privatization in the coming year. As part of this, protests were held across the country today.
All India Power Engineers Federation
Press Note – 23 December, 2025
Power Employees, Central Trade Unions and Farmers’ Organizations Hold Protests Across the Country Against the Draconian Nuclear Bill and Electricity (Amendment) Bill
Today, power employees and engineers, central trade unions, and farmers’ organizations held protests in all states against the draconian Nuclear Bill, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the ongoing privatization of electricity in Uttar Pradesh.
Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), stated that the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), the platform of central trade unions, and the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have described the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHAANTI) Bill, 2025 as a threat to the country’s nuclear safety and demanded its withdrawal.
He said that this bill dismantles India’s carefully built structure of nuclear safety and accountability and opens the most dangerous energy sector to large-scale private and foreign participation.
The existing Atomic Energy Act ensured strict public control over civilian nuclear activities because they involve strategic and destructive risks. The SHAANTI Bill replaces this with a profit-oriented licensing system, opening key parts of the nuclear value chain to private operators.
This is a decisive shift towards privatization of nuclear operations, while placing the entire burden of risks on the public and the nation. By repealing the CLND Act, the bill removes the operator’s statutory right of recourse against reactor suppliers, allowing private manufacturers to escape liability for faulty design or equipment. As a result, the financial burden of nuclear accidents shifts from profit-making companies to the victims and the government.
Shailendra Dubey, Chairman of the All India Power Engineers Federation, stated that through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025, the government is allowing private entities to earn money by using government networks, ending subsidies, which will hit common consumers and farmers the hardest. He explained that ending subsidies and not providing electricity to anyone at below-cost prices will result in the minimum electricity price becoming 10 to 12 rupees per unit, which will be out of reach for farmers and poor consumers. He said that the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers, central trade unions, and farmers’ organizations have decided to launch a nationwide mass movement against electricity privatization and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill.
NCCOEEE, the CTU platform, and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha stated that power employees, farmers, and trade unions have come together against electricity privatization, the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the privatization in Uttar Pradesh being carried out through repression and harassment, deciding to run a broad campaign against privatization in the coming year. As part of this, protests were held across the country today.
Today, large protests were held in Hyderabad, Jammu, Srinagar, Patiala, Hisar, Nagpur, Trivandrum, Dehradun, Kolkata, Ranchi, Raipur, Jabalpur, and Rajkot. Since today is the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh ji, extensive protests will be held in all districts of Uttar Pradesh tomorrow, 24 December.
Shailendra Dubey
Chairman
9415006225
