Konkan the real loser

Sir, - The ongoing legal battle between the Maharashtra State Electricity Board and the Enron- promoted Dabhol Power Company is yet another glaring example of how successive Congress Governments in the State gave least priority to the development of the Konkan region. I doubt if it would have met the same fate had the project been in western Maharashtra or the Marathwada region. We were proud that the largest gas-based power project in the world would boost the economy of the region.

Thanks to political manipulations, this was not to be. The Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, has treated this $3- billion project like a roadside hawker and the appointment of the Godbole Committee amounts to rubbing salt on our wounds. A few straight questions: if the Chief Minister was convinced that his Government cannot afford the second phase of the project, where was the need to appoint the Godbole Committee in the first place? If Mr. Madhav Godbole is such an upright person why did he not resign when the DPC openly challenged his integrity, expertise and locus standi by refusing to renegotiate with him? Why did he wait till Mr. Sharad Pawar, NCP leader, cast similar aspersions?

The elected representatives went down on their knees to reiterate their faith in Mr. Godbole and made him withdraw his childish resignation. Is this not a mockery of democracy? How is it that the MSEB's collections have suddenly gone up in the last five months? If anything, DPC has highlighted the lacunae in MSEB's functioning.

Madhav Chimbulkar,

Ratnagiri

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