SDPI DENOUNCES THE ELECTRICITY (AMENDMENT) BILL

New Delhi, 10th May 2020: MK Faizy, national president of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) denounced the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020 by the central government. The bill intended to completely privatize the sector is a challenge to the people of the country, he stated in a press release here today. The government is in a haste to enact the bill giving just three weeks’ time to file objections, when the country is under full lockdown. The electricity tariff would spike sharply as the bill is enacted. This will be an act that would lead the people who are already suffering from financial stringency resulting from the regular economic crisis, to further poverty. Subsidy will be abolished or it would be an additional burden on the exchequer of the state governments, if they grant subsidy to the consumers. Ultimately, the amendment would be beneficial to the corporate, and it is to serve this purpose Modi government is in a hurry to pass the bill. The attempt of the central government to save the interests of the corporate will adversely affect the domestic consumers, especially the farmers and the poor. There had been several attempts to privatize the power sector since BJP came to power at the centre, and they find this lockdown the best opportunity to get it done, added Faizy.

He urged the central government to withdraw from the move to amend the Act, and asked the non-BJP parties to come forward to strongly oppose the bill that eliminates the control of state governments on power supply which comes under the Concurrent List of the Constitution.