Employees of Telangana power companies protested against the amendment to the Electricity Act in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
HYDERABAD
Employees of state-owned power companies staged pre-lunch demonstrations at Vidyut Soudha, corporate offices of two discos, district offices and power plants in response to a call by the National Electricity Coordinating Committee of Employees and Engineers to protest the Centre’s Electricity (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Here at Vidyut Soudha, headquarters of TG-Genco and TG-Transco, members of the Telangana State Power Engineers Joint Action Committee staged a slogan and placard protest against the bill. The protest was led by E. Sridhar, P. Sadanandam, MA Vazeer and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sridhar said that the Bill was against farmers and through it the Center was planning to completely privatize the power sector. It would facilitate the increase in energy charges for the agricultural sector and the lower strata of the society, putting a burden on them.
Through Sections 14, 42 and 43 of the bill, private companies would be granted the right to use the established network (infrastructure) of distribution companies and low turnover would push public sector discos into losses. The bill would also allow private distribution companies to escape responsibility for universal energy supply (to all sections of society).
The TGPEJAC chairman said the bill would allow private discos to supply power only to profitable sections such as commercial and industrial consumers and less profitable categories such as household and agriculture would become the sole responsibility of public sector discos, making them financially unviable.
The Center also planned to amend Section 61(G) to completely remove cross-subsidies within five years, Mr. Sridhar said, adding that about 27 million public sector employees in the country would be forced to go on an indefinite strike if the bill was tabled in Parliament. He demanded that the Center withdraw the bill unconditionally.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Vidyuth Artisan Employees JAC staged a protest at the corporate office of Southern Discom here in support of the demands of electricity employees, especially artisans.
Published – 10 March 2026 20:19 IST
