Report of the NCCOEEE meeting by Comrade Krishna Bhoyar, National Secretary, All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE)
Minutes of National Coordination Committee Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) meeting on 12.07.2023
The online meeting of National Coordination Committee Employees and Engineers was recently held on 12.07.2023. In this meeting, it was informed that the Electricity Act 2022 is likely to be introduced by the Central Government in the monsoon session of the Parliament. At present, the Electricity Act 2022 is before the Lok Sabha Standing Committee. State governments of Kerala and West Bengal have presented their side before the committee. Many other states have not presented their side. The position of NCCOEEE is that the Electricity Act 2022 should not be tabled in the Parliament for discussion without listening to the views of all the states and all the stake-holders.
Before passing the Electricity Act 2022, many sub-stations and lines in distribution, transmission in various states of the country have been sold to Adani and other private capitalists. As the law could not be passed, the central government is privatizing the state power companies through various means. Concern was expressed about this.
In Uttar Pradesh, the employees and engineers went on indefinite strike against the privatization of power companies. In the discussion held after the strike, the Hon’ble Minister of Energy Uttar Pradesh had given a written assurance that the action against the suspended employees and engineers would be withdrawn. But that promise has not been fulfilled and even today legal action is going on against 1084 employees in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh government has argued in the court that the power companies in Uttar Pradesh have lost 3222 crore rupees due to the strike. According to the argument that the employees are responsible. In the court, there is a strong opposition by Uttar Pradesh Power Employees, Abhiyanta Sangharsh Samiti and the loss is due to the government and the management.
The Sangharsh Samiti has also clarified that the employees’ unions cannot be held responsible as the unions have given notice as per the Labor Act. Therefore, for the help of the employees there, NCCOEEE will hold a meeting in Lucknow in the month of August 2023 and all the national leaders of NCCOEE will be present in that meeting.
In Uttar Pradesh, the government is trying to suppress the struggle of employees through the courts. They need to be supported by employees across the country. If it succeeds in Uttar Pradesh, the central government will try to privatize it all over the country.
Currently, prepaid meters and smart meters are being installed across the country on a large scale, and the central government has provided financial assistance to various states to install the meters. It is clear that the central government’s purpose behind installing these meters is to license parallel electricity distribution to private capitalists in various distribution companies in the future.
An emergency meeting of NCCOEE has been called in Delhi on 27th July 2023 and the direction of further agitation will be decided in this meeting. In today’s meeting, it was decided that a letter of opposition will be given to the central government not to introduce the amended Electricity Act 2022 bill in the Parliament in any circumstances during the current sessions of the Parliament.
A detailed statement will be given to all political parties on behalf of the organization regarding the far-reaching effects of this law on the electricity consumers and farmers in the country.
In today’s meeting Com. Samiullah, Deputy General Secretary (Karnataka) and Com. Krishna Bhoyar National Secretary (Maharashtra) were present on behalf of All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE) as per the instructions of Com. Mohan Sharmaji. The meeting was moderated by Com. Prashant Choudhary, convener of NCCOEE. Chief officials of 7 national level organizations were present in the said meeting.
Yours faithfully
Comrade Krishna Bhoyar
National Secretary
All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE)