Nearly 27 lakh power sector employees and engineers across India will boycott work on March 10 to protest against the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) said on Friday.
The decision was taken during an online meeting of the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), chaired by AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey. The federation said the proposed legislation, which seeks to reform the country’s electricity distribution framework, has triggered widespread resentment among employees and engineers in the sector.
According to AIPEF, the draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill proposes allowing multiple electricity distribution companies to operate in the same area by using shared infrastructure. It also includes provisions for introducing cost-reflective tariffs while continuing to protect subsidised consumers and gradually eliminating cross-subsidy for industrial users within five years.
Opposing the move, the federation said the Bill could adversely affect farmers, power sector employees and low-income consumers.
“Nearly 2.7 million power employees and engineers across the country will boycott work and come out on the streets on March 10,” the AIPEF said in a statement.
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The NCCOEEE has also written to the Union power ministry urging it not to introduce what it termed the “anti-farmer, anti-consumer and anti-employee Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2025” in Parliament.
Dubey said the ministry had earlier sought feedback from stakeholders on the proposed Bill and that power sector unions, federations and organisations across the country had opposed the proposal. However, he alleged that neither the comments received from stakeholders nor the minutes of the consultations had been made public.
Instead, he said, the power ministry constituted a working group on January 30 that included the All India Discoms Association, an organisation which Dubey claimed openly supports privatisation in the power sector.
“Including such an organisation in the working group tasked with finalising the legislation makes the entire process biased and unconstitutional,” he said.
As part of the protest plan, the NCCOEEE will hold a meeting in Delhi on March 9 and invite Members of Parliament from various political parties to discuss concerns regarding the proposed law.
According to AIPEF, MPs will be urged to oppose the Bill in Parliament and take into account the concerns of farmers, poor consumers and employees of state power utilities.
Federations affiliated with the NCCOEEE have already asked their members across the country to prepare for the nationwide boycott of work on March 10.
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