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Mohammed Afzal's Hanging
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Madhav Godbole and E A S Sarma, the two authors, and the chairman and member respectively of the government enquiry committee, deserve our full approbation. However, if Enron power was high cost electricity, we have to blame ourselves more than Enron. I don’t think Enron cheated us; they merely looked after their interest. The World Bank had already determined that the project was not economically viable, because importing gas when domestic coal was available in plenty was not a good idea and that the Maharashtra grid would not be able to absorb the base load power of 1,800 MW from Enron. The former chairman of Central Electricity Authority, S N Roy had repeatedly asserted that the increase in demand is more in the intermediate and peak loads, while the supply offered by the independent power producers was increasing base load, thus creating a mismatch. Enron was interested in gas because it had already invested in “hard luck” cases of oil and gas fields in Qatar and wanted a major user. But at that time it was also simultaneously in the business of risk hedging for its customers; it could easily have given a fixed price contract, even for fuel, if only the MSEB side wanted it. But the fact is, we did not ask for it. Subsequently, the (erstwhile) Maharashtra electricity regulator compounded the mistake by cutting down the drawals from DPC, even when its variable cost was still less than the purchase price from some plants of NTPC. This arose from neglecting to consider the power purchase agreement, where the fixed cost was already committed, and hence became what economists call sunk costs. Bizarrely, the officers of MSEB then crowed that they are not obliged to take even a single kwh of electricity from DPC, without realising that they would be the greater losers, if they did not take it. By this process, the regulator made the price of DPC power even more costly. Be that as it may, the authors have courageously named a politician who is presently a cabinet minister, and have also lamented that the right to information is not working! If it does not work for a former chief secretary of a state and a former finance secretary of the centre, what about ordinary mortals? V RANGANATHAN Bangalore Subscription (Rs) Six One Two Three months year years years Institutions – 1250 2300 3300 Individuals 500 935 1750 2500 Concessional Rates Teachers/Researchers – 685 – 1800 Students – 450 – – Concessional rates are available only in India. To avail of concessional rates, certificate from relevant institution is essential. Remittance by money order/bank draft preferred. Please add Rs 35 to outstation cheques towards bank collection charges. Institutions – 1500 – 4150 Individuals – 1250 – 3500 (US $) Air Mail Surface Mail Institutions 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 1yr 2yrs 3yrs Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 80 150 200 65 120 175 Other countries 150 275 375 90 170 240 Individuals Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 50 90 125 30 50 75 Other countries 100 175 240 65 120 170 All remittances to: Economic and Political Weekly Hitkari House, 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly September 30, 2006 (Continued from p 4094) Mohammed Afzal on October 20, 2006. Not only does PUDR condemn the death penalty in principle, but in this case, we have followed the Parliament attack case closely from the time it was committed to trial under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and had observed the denial of fair trial in this particular case. PUDR’s report, A Trial of Errors, noted, “It is perhaps inherent in a trial under POTA that the accused is disabled to a point where rules of evidence become pliable and conjecture can take over and death sentences become easy to award”. Unfortunately, our apprehensions have come true. Besides lack of fair trial, it is well known that Mohammed Afzal did not have access to proper legal aid during the course of trial. Therefore, the punishment of death penalty to Mohammed Afzal is unfair and must be commuted. DEEPIKA TANDON Secretary, People’s Union for Democratic Rights, New Delhi In April 2005, a report entitled ‘The Public Interest Litigation Hoax: Truth before the Nation’, authored by the undersigned, was published by PIL Watch Group. It highlighted the plight of people adversely affected by PIL judgments. The affected people/victims were mostly denied hearing during the court proceedings, flouting the principles of natural justice. SHOBHA AGGARWAL New Delhi Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months from the address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the Special to ensure early publication. Papers with Article, Commentary and Discussion immediate relevance for policy would be sections will be published at the end ofEPW welcomes original research papers considered for early publication. Please the article.) in any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF versions are not accepted by the EPW. Authors are encouraged to use UK Englishprocessed. EPW invites short contributions to the spellings (Writers using MS Word or this along with the submitted paper. poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent software immediately on receipt with a reference on published articles to the Letters column. number. Quoting the reference numberare preferable to material prepared in All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. jpeg or other formats. and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its processing of the papers we receive. * Every effort is taken to complete early web site and may reproduce them on CDs. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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* Articles accepted for publication can details for correspondence: postal epw.mumbai@gmail.com Economic and Political Weekly September 30, 2006 Revival of Dabhol Power Project
WMohammed Afzal’s Hanging
P(Continued on p 4220)
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