VIJAYAWADA: The deadline set by the Union Ministry of Power for States and other stakeholders to send views, objections, suggestions and observations, if any, on the Electricity (Amendment)  Bill, 2020, ended on Friday.

Even as Chief Ministers and ministers of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and other states have already written to the Centre opposing the Bill claiming it was against the interest of States, it is unclear if the AP government has sent its views.

For the record, the employees of power utilities of the State have been vehemently opposing the bill and even staged various protests in the past few weeks. They alleged that the proposed bill would have serious repercussions on power sector and demanded that the bill be withdrawn.  In fact, the proposed bill was discussed in the review meeting held by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy last month.

It was noted that the proposed amendments, especially additional functions of National Load Despatch Centre, introduction of electricity contract enforcement authority, central committee selecting members of state regulatory commission and others, may override the states’ powers. Subsequently, the energy department sent a note on the same for CM’s perusal in May. However, it remains unclear if the state has drafted any report regarding its views to send to the Union Ministry of Power.  Efforts to contact the officials of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) elicited no response.