On the call of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), over 15 lakh power employees across the country will resort to a one-day strike/work boycott on August 10 in protest against the Indian Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

“After four days of successful 'satyagraha' at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, power engineers and employees are up in arms against the complete privatisation of the power sector and are now gearing up for the strike/work boycott on August 10,” All India Power Engineers Federation chairman Shailendra Dubey said in a statement here on Sunday.

What electricity employee’s fear about the contentious Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is the move towards privatisation of power distribution across the country which is already underway in a few states and Union Territories.

Dubey said that a large number of employees and engineers staged protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from August 3 to 6 despite the fact that permission to hold a satyagrah was refused by the government. He said many provisions of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, were anti-people and anti-employees; and if enacted, it would have far-reaching adverse consequences.

He demanded that the bill should not be rushed through in the current session of Parliament and instead it should be referred to Parliament's Standing Committee on Energy, as the Energy ministry had refused to discuss the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021, with power engineers and employees.