The All India Power Engineers Federation has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for asking the state governments to clear the power dues.
The outstanding dues on all states are over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey, while welcoming the views expressed by the prime minister, said that it was now clear that the public sector power distribution companies were the victims of the wrong policies of the state governments.
He said if the state governments paid the subsidy and electricity bills of the government departments in time then there would be no financial crisis before discoms.
The prime minister, on Saturday, had asked the state governments to resolve the payment crisis that undermined the financial and operational viability of the power sector entities by clearing the subsidies to discoms in time and ensuring that government departments and local bodies paid their power bills before the due date.
Dubey said it was very clear from this that if the governments paid the subsidy to the state power distribution companies and the electricity bills of the government departments were paid on time, then the power distribution companies would get Rs 1.4 lakh crore and they would be able to pay Rs 1.1 lakh crore to the generating companies.
“Even after that, there will be a surplus of Rs 30,000 crores with the discoms,” he added.
The AIPEF chairman said that the prime minister’s statement confirmed that it was the state governments which were the real culprit for the plight of the discoms and all the ills facing the power sector.
He said with the prime minister himself stating the cause of the poor financial health of the discoms, the proposed privatisation of electricity distribution through the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 should be withdrawn and the public sector power distribution companies should be given an opportunity to work independently without government interference.
Dubey said on the call of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), a national convention of electricity employees and engineers was being organised at the Constitution Club in Delhi on August 2.
In the conference, there will be a detailed discussion on the regressive impact of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 on electricity consumers, power sector and electricity employees and a resolution will be passed for the consideration of the Central government. A nationwide movement will also be announced in the conference against the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
Dubey said here on Sunday that prominent parliamentarians of all political parties had been invited to the conference. He said by making a presentation in the conference, the ill-effects of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 would be made known to the parliamentarians and they would be asked to support the people's movement against it.