DW BUREAU / PATIALA

The Federal council meeting of All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has vehemently opposed the privatisation agenda of the Ministry of Power through the Electricity (Amendment )rules. Large scale privatisation of transmission is going on in almost every State in the name of competitive bidding.

The Federal Council meeting was held at Chennai and 23 state constituents from across the country participated in it including Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttrakhand ,Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Assam, Gujarat, and Tamilnadu.

Shailendra Dubey was elected unanimously as Chairman and P Rathnakar Rao elected unanimously as Secretary General of the AIPEF for consecutive third terms. VK Gupta was again made spokesperson of the federation.

Kartik Dubey of Uttrakhand was elected Senior Vice-Chairman. Jitender Garg from Punjab and Vijender Lamba of Haryana were made Secretary and Joint Secretary respectively. Suneel Grover from Himachal was made Patron.

Shailendra Dubey said that during last 10 years the central government prepared draft of electricity amendment Bill 5 times but could not succeed in two consecutive Lok Sabha terms.

Padamjit Singh, Chief Patron of the AIPEF, advocated for fast breeder reactors and more hydro generation projects in view of global warming.

Rathnakar Rao, Secretary General, said that power engineers will brief political leaders about the pitfalls of privatisation. The installation of smart meters in state power utilities is another way for privatisation of the power Sector.

The AIPEF amended its constitution to include women engineers in the federal council. Er Moupali Mukhopadhyay from West Bengal was made Senior Vice-Chairman of the AIPEF.

(editor@dailyworld.in)