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Traitors in the Maharashtra government, both past
and present, have sold the people’s interests to the American multinational,
Enron. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) is paying Enron at the
fantastic rate of Rs. 6.8 per unit. The MSEB generates its own power at Rs. 1.3
per unit and its average purchases from other sources is at Rs. 2.3 per unit.
That is, the MSEB is paying Enron 300% more, for its electricity. This has
pushed the once highly profitable MSEB to bankruptcy, whose deficit had reached
Rs. 2000 crores by end-May 2000.
What such purchases from Enron will entail for the
people of Maharashtra can well be imagined. At present domestic consumers in
Maharashtra are paying Rs. 2 per unit and agriculturists (which comprise
one-third of MSEB’s users) pay 50 paise per unit. If consumers were to pay at
Enron’s rates it would entail a three-fold increase for the domestic user and a
14-fold increase for the agriculturists. With the government vehemently pushing
the privatisation of electric power (see Nov. 2000 issue of People’s March)
such increases are bound to occur, and will ruin the agriculturists and badly
hit the poor and middle classes.
The existing situation is a result of an agreement
signed by the so-called nationalist Shiv Sena/BJP government. Having first
bribed Sharad Pawar [then Congress (I), now NCP] and later Bal Thackeray, Enron
got the MSEB to sign one of the most humiliating agreements ever.
As per the agreement the pricing of electricity by
Enron is based on the ‘capacity charge’ which the MSEB will have to pay
even if it does not buy the power, and the fuel charge which is linked to the
dollar value of the rupee and the international price of crude. So, if the MSEB
does not purchase power from Enron it has to pay a phenomenal capacity charge
of Rs. 95 crore per month; and if it draws the energy produced it is costing
MSEB, at present, Rs. 6.8 per unit. What is outright criminal, is that the
compradors of MSEB are creating an artificial shortage, to justify buying the
highly expensive power from Enron. To create this shortage it has shut down some
of its own plants for ‘maintenance’, and has shut down the 900 MW gas-based Uran
Unit, due to the supposed non-availability of gas. In fact, a full analysis of
the data of power generation and availability in Maharashtra has shown that
purchasing power from the Dabhol Power Plant (Enron) was not at all necessary.
These American bandits, who yell from the roof-top
about the sanctity of free-trade, have, through a series of agreements have tied
the MSEB to purchase power from Enron at huge fixed rates — AND NOT THE MARKET
RATE. Why does Enron not compete with other electricity producers in the free
market !! MSEB is being forced to purchase from Enron, as if it does not, it has
to pay a de facto penalty of a gigantic Rs. 95 crores per month. Besides this,
Enron has also gained a guarantee from the state government in case MSEB cannot
pay; and a further counter-guarantee from the Central Government in case the
state government cannot pay.
This is not all. With Enron set to launch Phase II
of its project (which will takes its generating capacity upto 1,444 MW) the
Maharashtra government is forced to sign a further agreement or else pay up a
huge compensation of Rs. 20,000 crores for going back on its commitment.
And, as though this open robbery is not sufficient,
the Indian financial institution, the IDBI, which has lent huge sums to Enron to
build their plant, has now decided to reduce the interest rate on its loan by as
much as 3% — from 17% to 14%. In other words, the government plans to gift Enron
a further Rs. 50 to 100 crores per year.
While the masses are being fleeced through high
electricity charges, the exchequer being robbed by loans at low interest rates,
and the MSEB pushed to bankruptcy, the government is facilitating windfall
profits to Enron — most of which will be siphoned abroad. What is this if not a
criminal conspiracy against the interests of our country and its people ?
But Enron is only one of such projects. Similar
Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) have been signed by various state governments
with other Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Most of these are expected to
begin production in the current year. We have already seen its impact in Andhra
Pradesh, where electricity charges have been hiked phenomenally by the American
puppet, Naidu.
Such traitorous agreements have to be opposed
tooth-and-nail. Plants like Enron are highly detrimental to the national
interests of the country. But their existence is very closely linked with the
entire privatisation policy in the power sector, being dictated by the World
Bank. This policy is effecting the lakhs of employees working in this sector,
and also the masses who have to pay enormous charges in the new set-up. It has
to be vehemently opposed. The electricity employees went on a day’s national
strike in December. This can only be a start and is in no way sufficient, to
beat back the government’s policies. The Employees and public at large must
unite into a mighty storm, if it is to foil the imperialist conspiracy in the
power sector.
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