PSEB Engineers announce statewide protests, work boycott on Feb 12 against power privatisation
Babushahi Bureau
Patiala (Punjab), January 28, 2026:The PSEB Engineers Association, along with the Joint Action Committee, has announced statewide protest meetings across Punjab on February 12, 2026, while power sector employees in other states will observe a work boycott on the same day.
The agitation is being organised in protest against power sector privatisation and the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
Announcing the decision, Ajaypal Singh Atwal, General Secretary of the PSEB Engineers Association, said the protests reflect the deep-rooted anger and concern of lakhs of power engineers and electricity employees across the country against policies that, according to them, threaten to dismantle India’s public power sector.
The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has also issued a stern warning that if the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025 is introduced in Parliament during the ongoing Budget Session, power engineers and electricity employees nationwide will launch immediate lightning actions, including cessation of work and mass street mobilisations.
AIPEF leaders stated that electricity is the backbone of India’s economy, agriculture, industry, and rural livelihoods. They alleged that the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the National Electricity Policy, 2026 constitute a direct attack on affordable power, public ownership, the federal structure, and national energy security.
The Federation has strongly opposed what it described as the Union Government’s aggressive push towards privatisation, including multi-licensing in power distribution, forced smart metering, public-private partnership (PPP) and tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) models in transmission, outsourcing of operations, and contractualisation of jobs. AIPEF cited the failed privatisation experiment in Chandigarh and cautioned against similar initiatives in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and other states.
V.K. Gupta, Media Advisor, AIPEF, informed that the Federation has placed the following key demands before the government:
- Immediate withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, alleging it promotes privatisation and multi-licensing, threatens cross-subsidies, leads to higher tariffs, and allows private players to cherry-pick profitable consumers.
- Withdrawal of the SHANTI Act, 2025, which the Federation claims dilutes nuclear safety and accountability while opening the sector to private and foreign interests.
- Withdrawal of the National Electricity Policy, 2026, which, according to AIPEF, aggressively promotes privatisation across generation, transmission, and distribution.