New Delhi, Dec 4 (Agency) The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Boilers Bill, 2024 by a voice vote, rejecting the amendment proposals of Fauzia Khan of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) and Communist Party of India Marxist V Sivadasan. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, while responding to the discussion on the bill that lasted for more than two hours, said that the Central Government has been working with a new thinking and approach for the last ten years, leaving behind the old thought and this bill is also a symbol of the same. Through this, the mentality of slavery is also being eliminated because this bill is very old. Accountability has been fixed with transparency in the bill. He said that the rights of the state governments have not been reduced in any way in the bill. Adding that this bill had become very old, so now it had become necessary to put forth all its provisions in a transparent manner.
Goyal said that he is surprised at the thinking of Congress that in the name of protest, it can oppose its own decisions. He said that the Vajpayee government had brought amendments in the bill with the same provisions which were approved by the cabinet of the Congress-led government in 1995. He said that after this, when the Congress government brought the amendment bill in 2007, the BJP sitting in the opposition supported it, but the same Congress is now opposing the amendments in this bill in 2024. He said that this reveals the thinking of the Congress. The Boilers Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 8 this year. It replaces the Boilers Act 1923.
It regulates the manufacture, installation, use and repair of boilers and boiler components to ensure safe working. It gives power to the Central Government to make regulations to constitute a Central Boiler Board. Registration and certification of boilers is mandatory. It empowers state governments to appoint inspectors for inspection and certification of boilers. It also specifies mechanisms for appealing inspectors’ decisions and for awarding penalties. After the Minister’s reply, the house passed the bill by a voice vote.