Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the Centre to withdraw the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2021. In the House, K Krishnankutty moved the resolution in the assembly which is proposed to be present in the Parliament.
Before moving the resolution in the House, the state electricity minister said, "Central government failed to discuss with states about the electricity amendment bill and was unable to reach a consensus. As both the Centre and the state governments have the right to make laws in the matter of power distribution, the Centre should be committed to discuss the matter with states and reach a consensus. That is cooperative federalism."
"This bill enables private companies to enter into the 'power distribution sector'. Notably, no license is required to enter the power distribution sector. The State Government or electricity regulatory commission would not have any control over these companies. The Central government will decide the criteria for entering private companies into this sector. This amendment will take away all powers of state government in the power distribution sector," said the minister.
While reading out the resolution, K Krishnankutty said, "With this bill, the private companies would not have any obligation to invest in this sector nor laying new electricity lines to carrying electricity or maintenance. They can use the existing lines to carry electricity for their business. This will help the private companies to stop their operations if they fail to collect targetted profits. This will create uncertainty in the power distribution sector."
The minister said that the amendment does not deny 'private companies to distribute electricity for all' and added that if this happens, then this will lead to a concentration of commercial and industrial clients on a large scale in urban areas. "If the private companies prioritize on high-end clients, it will become the responsibility of the public sector to provide electricity to the poor section of the society. Gradually, it will become a burden for the public sector and will lead to the destruction of the public sector", said the Kerala Minister while highlighting the key points of the resolution.
"When the Centre enters into the power sector, the right of power distribution which was with the State earlier would lie in the hands of the Centre. This would undermine the federal principles," the resolution informed.
(With inputs from ANI)