The Ceylon Electricity Board Workers’ Union (CEBWU) blamed the Ministry of Power and Energy for allegedly not having extensive discussions with the stakeholders including the experts in the subject, regarding the revised Electricity Sector Reforms Bill, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers recently.

Recently, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced that the Cabinet approved the said Bill during its meeting on Monday (8). The Cabinet approval directs the Ministry to Gazette the amended version of the new Electricity Sector Reforms Bill and to subsequently present it to the Parliament for further consideration and approval. 

“The Bill will be gazetted this week and is scheduled to be presented to the Parliament in the last week of April. Upon its presentation, the public will have a two-week window to scrutinise and potentially challenge the Bill,” the Minister noted via social media.

Against this backdrop, speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (10), CEBWU General Secretary Ranjan Jayalal said that the Ministry has consulted certain CEB affiliated trade unions in the Southern and Western Provinces, but not the general trade union that represents the majority of the CEB employees. He also said that the content and objectives of the proposed Bill have not been changed, even though the Ministry claims that the Bill is revised according to the concerns raised by the stakeholders. He further said that CEB trade unions attached to the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have not raised any opposition to the Bill, and that therefore, the Bill will definitely be passed in the Parliament with the support of the main Opposition groups. 

He also alleged that Minister Wijesekera is taking every possible measure to give the entire energy sector to the Adani Group, and that hence, the proposed Bill is legislation with an ‘Indian origin’. Claiming that they will challenge the constitutionality of the Bill before the Supreme Court (SC) once it is tabled in the Parliament, he noted that the consequences of this Bill will last for generations.

Minister Wijesekera was unavailable for comment.