Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
The working group formed to finalize the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 includes an organization which has been advocating privatization of power distribution sector. It shows what the real objective of the Bill is; it is not what the Bill claims – to provide better service to consumers. Consumers including all workers and farmers must unitedly oppose this anti-people, anti-social Bill.
The All India Power Engineers federation (AIPEF) has expressed serious objections to the report submitted by the working group constituted by the Ministry of Power to finalize the draft of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025 (EAB 25).
Shri Shailendra Dubey, Chairman, AIPEF, informed that on 30 Jan 2026, the Ministry of Power quietly issued order constituting the working group. The AIPEF strongly objected to the inclusion of the Director General of the All India Discom Association (AIDA) in the working group. The Association is a private organization of private and public discoms. Several of its office bearers have publicly advocated privatization of the power distribution sector as the only way to solve the problem of financial losses of discoms.
The AIPEF stated that the inclusion of this private body, which is linked to corporate interests, clearly indicated that objections of stakeholders like consumers and workers would be ignored and the report would favour privatization to serve the corporate interests.
Irrespective of the stated objectives of the EAB 25, the inclusion of the AIDA in the working group makes its real objective of the privatization of the power distribution sector amply clear.
It is learnt that the working group has submitted its report to the union power minister.
The AIPEF has demanded that the report should be made public and that there should be no haste to put up the EAB 25 in the Parliament on the basis of this report. The AIPEF has warned that if any attempt is made to introduce the EAB in the Parliament, an agitation will be immediately launched across the country. AIPEF has emphasized that nearly27 lakh
Power employees and engineers across the country will, not accept anti-people provisions of the EAB under any circumstances. If the concerns of the employees and consumers are ignored and the Bill is pushed, the government will bear the full responsibility of the consequences of the all India agitation and actions.