Power play

In 2001, Vedanta Resources Founder and Chairman Anil Agrawal paid Rs 551 crore for a 51 per cent stake in what was then public sector aluminium maker Balco. Guess how many times he has visited the plant, located in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, in the past 12 years? Never. During a recent visit to state capital Raipur, journalists asked him when he planned to visit the plant, which is about 220 km away. On his next visit, he said. When was that slated? Well, it was conditional on when the 1,200-Mw power plant and a new aluminium plant would be commissioned, he replied. The message was unmistakable. The power plant had been stalled following the state government's refusal to grant approval for it to operate, so Agrawal was clearly linking its clearance with his visit. No doubt it was also a covert signal for local company executives: liaison well with the government if they wanted their boss to be there in Korba.