People's Democracy

 ELECTRICITY EMPLOYEES AND ENGINEERS DEMAND

 ‘Repeal Electricity Act 2003’

THE all India convention of electricity employees and engineers held under the auspices of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE) passed a unanimous resolution demanding immediate repeal of Electricity Act 2003 and its replacement by a more suitable law. The convention also called upon the employees and people in general to launch widespread campaigns and agitations exposing the ills of the Act.

The convention was held at New Delhi on October 14, 2004 and was chaired by E Balanandan, president, Electricity Employees Federation of India (EEFI) and Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M).  It was addressed among others by A B Bardhan, president, All India Federation of Electricity Employees (AIFEE) and general secretary of CPI. The speakers detailed their discussions with the prime minister both at the level of NCCOEEE and as Left parties.

B S Meel, general secretary, EEFI, introduced the resolution against the implementation of Electricity Act 2003.  Shailendra Dubey, general secretary, All India Power Engineers Federation, supported the resolution. Chakradhar Pd. Singh, general secretary, AIFEE, presented the resolution on action programme. Er. H.N. Mishra, general secretary, All India Diploma Engineers Federation, K. Ashoka Rao, Working Group on Power Sector also spoke.  Representatives from Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, MP, UP, Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Punjab took part in the discussion on resolution.

All resolutions were passed with unanimity and amid thunderous applause.

MAIN RESOLUTION

Electricity Act 2003 has come into force with effect from June 10, 2003.  If any state government desires, the repealed laws can be kept in force till June 10, 2004 by using the provision of the Act itself.  The existing Electricity Boards can continue only up to June 10, 2004. Subsequently the UPA government has extended the cut off date up to June, 2005 if the states desire so.

This enactment is made to provide a legal framework for the total privatisation of the electricity industry and as a prelude to the unbundling of the electricity boards and subsequent shift into the deregulation and market driven pricing of power.  The provision for open access to transmission system, de-licencing of generation, allowing multiple players in transmission and distribution, removing social control over power industry are the clear cut path of the notorious Enron-founded American model of the power industry.

The Act leads to the following among other things:

1.  The abundant water resources in the country can be exploited for minting profits by any private investor who gets statutory clearance from the concerned government department, which is easy for private capital in the present system.

2. The assets of electricity boards will be handed over to private capital at a very concessional price as we have seen in DVB privatisation.

3. Further rural electrification will be in doldrums. As this is a loss making business, no company can take up this task.  Two-thirds of the households in India are yet to have access to electricity.

4. The issue of the transmission licenses will lead to fragmented transmission system, instead of integrated transmission system which will lead to opening up of anarchy in transmission system and may further lead to massive power failures as we saw in Denmark, Italy & UK, weeks after the total blackout in the US on August 14, 2003.

5. There will be regulatory commissions both in the centre and state with enormous powers, and which are neither accountable to parliament nor legislative assemblies.

6. By elimination of the subsidy, cost of power will become unaffordable to majority of Indian population, including the lower middle class in urban and rural areas, public utility services like schools, colleges, transport, hospitals, sports complexes etc, agricultural sector and small-scale industry.  The cost of agricultural production, including food crops, will go up and consequently the whole population will be affected.  An illusion is created by the apostles of privatisation that as a result of introducing competition among multiple players in the power generation, transmission, distribution and trade, the tariff will come down.  It is a false notion.  The National and International experience negates this propaganda. Only a small section of the people i.e., the affluent class get the advantage of it.

7. The definition of captive power, as per the provisions of the Act, enables those who can pay surcharge for providing supply, to escape from paying such surcharge and utilise the existing transmission system for bringing power from anywhere they wish.

8. The service conditions of the employees will be affected both in public and private sector. A typical example is available in the private company CESC management’s proposal to reduce the staff strength by 50 per cent utilising this opportunity. The 6,200 employees under VRS in Delhi are moving from pillar to post for their terminal benefits such as pension, gratuity etc.

9. In order to manipulate the cost of installation to fetch higher tariff approved by the regulatory commission, the private companies will be importing plant and machinery even second hand thereby creating adverse effect on the self-reliance of the country.

 So, the new enactment is to safeguard the interest of the big private capital, both Indian and foreign, contrary to the dreams and vision of the freedom fighters and nation builders.  The chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy and a few of the chief ministers of the country highlighted these dangers.

Even though in letter and spirit the intentions of Electricity Act 2003 are the above, there are some provisions in the Act itself which can be used in the present federal set up of the country to keep the erstwhile Electricity Board as a single entity.

The National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers demands that the Electricity Act 2003 be repealed/replaced and a new law should be brought to uphold the dominant role of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to suit the federal set up of the country, the SEBs and central PSUs  in the interest of our national objectives “Power for all, quality power on demand and power at affordable rates”.  The electricity boards should be kept intact as a single entity, company/corporation till then to obviate the difficulties to the consumers, employees and the nation.

This convention also demands that sufficient budgetary support should be provided to the states by the union government for power development to achieve planned, balanced development of the country. 

This convention calls upon all the electricity employees of the country to involve in massive campaigns and agitations exposing the evils of Electricity Act 2003 and fight back joining with the people at large including the peasantry to achieve the above goals. (INN)