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AES to initiate fresh dialogue with Orissa govt

Imran Khan in Bhubaneswar

AES Corporation, the American power giant, has agreed to initiate a fresh dialogue with the Orissa government to find a way out of the impasse over its distribution business in the state.

"The AES authorities offered to initiate a fresh dialogue over the distribution business after the Union power ministry intervened in the issue," state energy department sources informed.

An energy department official had said that a senior AES official at the energy major's Delhi office had expressed his company's desire to offload its stake in Orissa's power distribution unit, Central Electricity Supply Company.

Sources said that the Orissa government had told the AES officials that the it has already made a contingency plan to manage the distribution company -- which is headless at the moment -- in the absence of any senior AES officers manning the show.

He also said that the government has already promised to pay the July salary to the employees by August 17.

Sources said that AES is bound to continue in the company till March 31, 2002 as per the shareholders agreement. Besides, AES has to take care of its financial liabilities before abandoning the project.

D N Padhy, principal secretary of energy department, meanwhile maintained that the issue can be resolved only through discussions. He suggested a fresh rounds of discussion to which the AES officials agreed.

A senior AES officials' team is likely to visit Orissa in a couple of days to hold talks at length with the state officials.

Sources said that as a part of the contingency plan, the Orissa government will pay the Cesco staff salary from the World Bank loan recently released to the company.

The Orissa government, however, is tight-lipped over the contingency plan.

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