Centre trying to privatise power sector: KMSC

Members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (Punjab) on Thursday staged a protest in Amritsar against the draft of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2025, burning effigies of the Central and Punjab governments. The demonstrators accused both governments of attempting to privatise the entire power sector under the draft Bill.

Leading the protest, state leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and district president Ranjit Singh Kaler Bala said that the Central government had issued a letter on October 9 instant, indicating that the draft of the new amendment Bill had been prepared and that the process to hand over the electricity department to private players was being initiated. They said the Bill posed a grave threat to the interests of farmers, labourers, power employees and the common people of Punjab.

State leader Germanjit Singh Bandala and district leader Kandhar Singh Bhoewal alleged that the government's move to install chip-based prepaid meters was part of the same privatisation policy. They announced that the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha has invited all farmers, workers, employees and student organisations to attend a joint consultation meeting on October 27 at Kisan Bhawan, Chandigarh, to discuss a united course of action against the bill.

The leaders said that electricity, like food, clothing and shelter, has become a basic necessity. If privatisation is initiated, they warned, electricity will become unaffordable not only for the poor but also for the middle class. They appealed to all sections of society to participate in the upcoming meeting to collectively oppose the Bill.

Accusing the Punjab government and Opposition parties of remaining silent on the issue, the leaders demanded that the state government immediately reject the draft Bill in the Assembly and coordinate with other states to put pressure on the Centre to withdraw it.