The Hindu Business Line : No plan to quit power business, say Goenkas

In an early morning meeting at the residence of Mr Mrinal Banerjee, Minister for Power, Mr Goenka sought to dispel any misgivings in the mind of the Government in this respect saying that the group has no plans of quitting the power business.

The meeting gains significance in view of recent reports speculating on the group's plans to quit the loss-ridden CESC and the West Bengal Government's toughening stand against the group. The meeting was also attended by Mr Kalyan Bagchi, State Power Secretary, and Dr G.D. Gautama, Chairman of the West Bengal State Electricity Board.

At the meeting, which lasted for an hour, Mr Goenka also assured the Minister that within two months, the reconciliation of the Rs 960-crore receivables claimed on the CESC by WBSEB would be settled and a payment plan would be finalised. The Government on its part agreed to re-examine the arrear fuel surcharge issue for the period not covered by the fuel revision, granted by the West Bengal State Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC).

It may be mentioned here that the RPG-group which got into the power generation business in 1989, through the acquisition of CESC Ltd, has been caught in a bind with its mounting arrears with WBSEB from whom CESC buys nearly Rs 18-crore worth of power, every month. Following its failure to pay even its current billings, the Government issued a notification in February 2001 for clearing some of the payment.

As the CESC started defaulting again, after making some initial payments, the WBSEB took the unprecedented step of curtailing its supplies to CESC during peak hours.

However, with CESC failing to generate adequately from its own power plants, the Government began to get worried and asked the RPG enterprise to give up some of its licence area.

This was highlighted by the Minister at today's meeting when he said that because of the payments problem between CESC and WBSEB, people were suffering.

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