In his attempt to counter the Centre over the proposed reforms of transferring all powers of the electricity sector in the hands of the central government, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday wrote to the non-BJP CMs asking for their opinions on the amendment to the Electricity Act, 2003.
The APP convener wrote to Chief Minister of 11 states seeking their comments on the amendments. Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Pinarayi Vijayan, H D Kumaraswamy, V Narayansamy, Edapaddi K Palaniswami, Lal Thanhawla, Amarinder Singh, K Chandrashekhar Rao, Naveen Patnaik and Pawan Chamling were the Chief Ministers he wrote to.
“The proposed amendments to the Electricity Act 2003 are a matter of serious concern as they concentrate all powers in the electricity sector in the hands of Central Government to the exclusion of State Governments and it will lead to an immediate steep hike in electricity tariffs,” wrote Kejriwal, reports The Indian Express, in his letter to those CMs.
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“It appears that the motive of the Central Government is to impose and hasten privatisation of electricity all over the country and to favour a few companies. By concentrating all powers with itself, the Centre will be able to do that,” the letter further added.
Letting his disappointment be known, the Delhi government urged the other leaders for their support in ensuring that the Bill is not passed in the Parliament.
“We all need to get together to ensure that the Central Government does not succeed in getting this amendment Bill passed in Parliament. We may also give it wide publicity and make people aware of how these amendments will adversely affect a common man,” he wrote in the letter.
The 50-year-old also called for a meeting with the other States leaders to discuss the matter. “Since this is an extremely critical matter which will have nationwide consequences, I would like to personally come to discuss it in detail with you,” he said, requesting for a quick response from the others mentioned in the letter. “I would appreciate if you could kindly indicate your earliest convenience.”
Kejriwal had earlier attacked the amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003, by saying that he considers it to be a hit on the federal structure of the Indian democracy. He also stated that implementing all the proposed reforms will render the states toothless in the power sector, which is a concurrent subject and hence both the States and the Centre should have the power to legislate it.
Image Source: The Sentinel