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No immediate need to fill the three vacancies on Enron panel: Deshmukh

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said there was no immediate need to fill the three vacant posts on the Enron renegotiating panel, headed by former bureaucrat Dr Madhav Godbole.

"If only the chairman of the committee asks for replacement, the government will give a thought to it," Deshmukh told a post cabinet meeting news conference at Mantralaya on Wednesday.

The chief minister was reacting to reports that three members of the renegotiating panel--Kirit Parikh, R K Pachauri and E A S Sarma--have communicated their inability to attend the meetings as they were tied up with other engagements.

"It (their withdrawal from the committee) will not affect the working of the panel," he opined.

The task before the committee was only to renegotiate and bring down the power tariff, he said. "Reducing the exorbitant electricity charges is the core issue before the committee," Deshmukh said.

To a query, he said the finance department was seized of the matter concerning sales tax exemption to Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company for Naptha purchase.

"No decision has been taken about waiver of sales tax to the US energy giant subsidiary," Deshmukh said.

"Our desire is that something positive should emerge from the discussions between the renegotiating panel and Enron," Deshmukh said.

The first meeting of the Godbole panel to renegotiate the estranged PPA between DPC and the state electricity board was held in Bombay on May 11 and the next meeting is slated for May 23.

There was no response from the Centre to the state government's request that the former should take over phase II of the 2,184 MW power project in coastal Konkan, he said.

Similarly, other states and even the Central government utilities were not in favour of purchasing highly-priced power from DPC, the chief minister said.

"Only if the power tariff is reduced the issue will be resolved," he hoped.

To a query, he said the state government had asked the Centre to sent its three nominees--experts from Finance, Power and Banking sectors--to be nominated on the Godbole panel.

However, the Centre has only sent former bureaucrat A V Gokak on the panel. "We hope that the Centre has briefed him fully and invested full powers in him," Deshmukh added.

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Sarma, Pachauri, Parikh quit Godbole panel
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Enron, Indian panel to meet on May 23
Dabhol lenders willing to back PPA termination
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Enron has no plans to sell Dabhol stake
History of Enron's Dabhol power plant: Reuters

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