Govt to review Enron phase II, says Deshmukh

Govt to review Enron phase II, says Deshmukh
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Nagpur, Nov 26: The Democratic Front Government has decided to review the Enron phase II agreement made by the previous Shiv Sena-BJP government, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today said.

Talking to newspersons on the eve of the winter session of the State Legislature, Deshmukh said the project which was envisaged to tackle the power shortage of the State seems to have defeated its purpose because of its prohibitive cost which the consumers may have to bear.

``Considering this aspect, we may have to review the whole agreement,'' he added.

When told about leader of Opposition Narayan Rane's comment that the DF Government does not have the guts to scrap the agreement, Deshmukh said ``We will show our guts at the proper time''.

Meanwhile, in Pune the Common Minimum Programme Committee of the DF government president N D Patil said the decision was not at all surprising and ``We are going to review the new power projects of Mittal and Reliance also''.

The government has cut down the purchase of power from Enron to 340 MW as against 600 MW decided by the pact due to which the government has to pay a penalty of Rs 95 crore per month at present, he said adding the penalty would increase to Rs 300 after the second phase, ``but it will be better to pay a fixed amount for breaking the pact than paying the penalty''.

The power shortage is mostly during the peak hours and the problem could be solved by restarting the 500 MW plant at Uran, purchasing more electricity from Tata and National Thermal Power Corporation and other means, he added.

The Chief Minister said 30 bills will come up for discusssion during the session which includes Maharashtra State Cooperative Society's Act, Water Conservation Act, state Minority Commission, coaching classes, zilla parishad and panchayat samitis act and amendment in public health.

Deshmukh admitted that 14,000 villages in the State including 8,000 from Vidarbha were reeling under the impact of drought and added that the government has initiated effective measures to tackle the drought on a war footing.

He refuted the allegation levelled by Sena-BJP of inept handling of the drought situation by the DF Government.

Deshmukh admitted reports of MSEB disconnecting the power supply of some of the consumers in rural areas to recover the arrears.