Our Political Bureau

Mumbai, April 6: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said the ongoing Dabhol power crisis could be solved through negotiations. The former Maharashtra CM also urged the state government to adopt a pragmatic approach to sort out the issue.

Mr Pawar has contacted the Dabhol Power Company (DPC) to explore various possibilities for the supply of power at an “affordable” tariff and also the Centre to accommodate the phase-II power in the national pool.
He said the DPC could also weigh the possibility of commissioning one of the blocks of phase-II (1,444 MW) in a bid to give a much needed relief to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and the state government. “The DPC should consider options to reduce per unit tariff for the supply of power at an affordable rate.

imultaneously, it can also consider a possibility to defer the commissioning of one of the two blocks of phase-II to find a way out,” Mr Pawar said.

He was talking to the reporters after his meeting with the former US president Bill Clinton. He said the Dabhol crisis did not figure during his meeting with Mr Clinton.

Mr Pawar’s comment deserves special significance especially when the DPC has served a notice of conciliation and notice of arbitration to the Centre for the non-payment of the December bill of Rs 102 crore. He expressed serious displeasure over the ongoing Dabhol crisis. “I strongly feel that the present problems related to the Dabhol project can be resolved through negotiations,” he opined.

Mr Pawar, however, said he had no plans to appear before the Madhav Godbole Energy Review Committee which is reviewing the Dabhol project and the state power sector. “Let us wait for the Godbole committee report,” he said.

Mr Pawar, who was criticised as a strong supporter of Enron project, said the project cannot be simply dumped as it has been binding on the MSEB to purchase power as per the provisions of power purchase agreement. “Even those, who (the BJP leaders) had roared that the Dabhol project would be dumped into the Arabian sea, had revived it. It is a clear fact that power is a necessity for the country,” he added.

Mr Pawar said that initially the Centre had shown some eagerness to find a way out for the accommodation of power generated from the Dabhol phase-II into the national grid. However, it seems the Centre is now not so keen to work out a solution in this regard, he says.

The former Maharashtra chief minister also expressed displeasure over making the communication between the prime minister and state chief minister on Dabhol project public. “This is quite strange. These communications are never made open for public,” he added.

He said it was ironical that the state had not received a single new project during the last four years. Similarly, there has been a drastic reduction in the power consumption by industrial consumers also. “This is not a good sign as the power demand was increasing at a rate of 6 to 7 per cent up to 1995,” he added.

In a related development, Mr Pawar has floated a special group to suggest various ways to tackle the situation arising out of the lifting of quantitative restrictions by the World Trade Organisation.

“The group, which will coordinate with similar groups internationally, will activate the affected sectors in India and at times, exert pressure on the policy makers to adopt corrective measures,” he added. The group would be apolitical in nature and comprise members even from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch among others.