The Ceylon Electricity Board United Trade Union Alliance (CEBUTUA) is to launch a public seminar series in order to make citizens aware of the Government’s alleged attempt to privatise the electricity sector through the proposed electricity sector reforms Bill.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (22), the CEBUTUA Convenor Ranjan Jayalal said that the seminar series is scheduled to start from the Laxapana area on 29 November and that it is to hold several public campaigns in districts such as Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Kalutara, Badulla and Kegalle.

He said that this move has been taken with the pressure that they receive from both the general public and those who are working in sectoral institutions such as the CEB. He also claimed that according to many officers in CEB, they have been pressured to implement many harmful decisions which could lead the country’s power and energy sector into someone else’s hands.

Earlier, the CEBUTUA claimed that the proposed electricity sector reforms Bill will not address the issues in the power and energy sector, alleging that the said Bill is merely an attempt by the Government to privatise the electricity sector. They also said that the reforms agenda would further escalate the problems within the entire electricity sector, and pave an easy way for the authorities to privatise electricity generation.

Meanwhile, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said on Monday (20) that the Cabinet of Ministers had green-lit the proposed Bill for electricity sector reforms. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he said that the new Bill would be published in the Government gazette, and be presented to the Parliament for its approval.