Godbole Panel Not To Seek Replacements

Chairman of the renegotiation committee appointed to hold discussions with the Dabhol Power Company (DPC) Madhav Godbole, on Wednesday said the remaining six members on the committee were adequate to fruitfully continue negotiations with the power major.

Responding to a query whether the withdrawal by three appointees on the committee -- EAS Sarma, RK Pachouri and Kirit Parikh -- would hamper negotiations with DPC considering their respective expertise in fields of finance and power, Godbole told Business Standard, "I would not like to get into such an argument. As far as the committee is concerned we would not be seeking fresh inductions."

He was reacting to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's statement made earlier on Wednesday, wherein he said the government would wait for the chairman of the renegotiation committee to make a requisition for new members on the committee.

Deshmukh also told mediapersons after the cabinet meeting, "We have repeatedly informed the centre of our inability to absorb the DPC power that would become available following the completion of phase II of the project."

He also observed that while Maharashtra was keen to ensure the active participation of individual members from the Union finance,

energy and legal ministries for a fruitful dialogue process with DPC, the appointment of retired bureaucrat AV Gokak was not clear on some issues.

"Whether Gokak is authorised by the centre with some powers to negotiate on its behalf is not clear as of now. However, with renegotiations currently on, we would like to await the committee's deliberations," he said.

The next meeting of the renegotiating committee with DPC is scheduled for May 23.