Godbole quits, relents later

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, MAY 23. Mr. Madhav Godbole, who heads the truncated renegotiation committee to re-work the deal with the Enron- sponsored Dabhol Power Company (DPC) today quit in protest against Mr. Sharad Pawar's remark that the panel should have a ``positive approach'' failing which ``I wonder how results would be achieved'' and, hours later, on persuasion by the entire Maharashtra Cabinet, decided not to press his resignation.

After being satisfied that the entire Government, despite some individual misgivings, was backing him, Mr. Godbole has decided to convene the meeting of the panel with DPC representatives here next week. ``I am not pressing the resignation because of the unanimous view of the Cabinet that I have its support and confidence,'' Mr. Godbole told The Hindu within an hour of a letter from the Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, conveying the Cabinet's request.

Had Mr. Godbole remained firm, all the efforts to have the independent power producer push towards lower tariffs would have suffered a major setback. Since Mr. Deepak Parekh, Mr. R.K. Pachauri, Mr. E.A.S. Sarma and Mr. Kirit Parikh are already as good as out of it for want of time, the one credible effort at renegotiation would have come apart, sources said.

A meeting of his panel with the DPC was due to be held today at 11 a.m. but had to be called off since Mr. Godbole dashed off a letter to Mr. Deshmukh expressing his unwillingness to continue with the efforts to rework the power purchase agreement since Mr. Pawar led at least one half of the Government as a constituent of the coalition and he disliked being termed, even if only tangentially, ``negative.''

There were serious misgivings about the developments ``at a crucial and critical moment'' because it had all the promise of derailing the renegotiations that had commenced ever so reluctantly. For long, the DPC had been asking for a credible platform with all parties with interests or ability to provide solutions to be a party to the efforts to bring the tariff down from the existing levels - it had reached even an unconscionable Rs. 21 per kwhr at one time - to something affordable.

Ironically, Mr. A.V. Gokak, the Centre's nominee on the panel, has arrived for the meeting with some proposals, like involving the Power Trading Corporation in picking up the power from the DPC plants, though without other elements being worked out, it can only be seen as a positive gesture from the Centre.

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