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'Enron was never contacted by the Human Rights Watch'

The report is out of context and dredges up baseless allegations that have been put to rest over the past four years. Much of the report deals with concerns over state police actions, over which the company has no control, and it is misleading by the Human Rights Watch to allege so.

In all there were 26 lawsuits -- all ruled in the favour of the company both at the level of the Bombay high court and the Supreme Court. The high court has found these allegations completely baseless.

After years of scrutiny by the courts, it is clear that the project has been developed in an ethical fashion and in accordance with the highest standards of business practice.

The DPC has worked hard to promote positive relations with the community. A handful of people who oppose this project were interviewed for this report in great detail. The good relationship the company has built with a large percentage of the community was not reflected.

In fact, the report has not bothered to take cognisance of a large number of community workers -- over 20,000 over a period of five years -- who actively participated in the construction of the project.

The DPC has no authority over the state police. The authorities have determined that a police presence near the site is warranted to maintain order. This is a matter to be taken up with the police itself or the government of Maharashtra. The DPC was never contacted by the Human Rights Watch.

The report deals largely with law and order issues near the DPC project site, but not on the site itself. The DPC and its contractors do not employ or sub-contract police officers at the site or its vicinity and cannot speak for or control the actions of the police. The company is required to pay for their services while working near the site, but this gives it no authority to dictate methods of keeping order.

While many of the protests have been violent and initiated by outsiders, the Human Rights Watch report cites only two examples of violence by protestors. In fact, there have been numerous incidents of property damage, verbal intimidation and physical attacks on the company workers.

Every policy or action, formal or informal, communicate the DPC's belief in human rights and makes it clear that the company does not tolerate human rights abuses by employees or contractors.

The DPC involves the local and state NGOs in its community activities and meets with them regularly, and the NGOs participate in decision-making regarding community interface. The company is open to dealing with all local NGOs and welcome suggestions in this regard.

The company believes that peaceful protests are clearly the right of the citizens of a free country. However, many of the protests near the site have been violent and the company believes in protecting the rights of our employers and contractors. There have been numerous incidents of property damage, verbal intimidation and physical assault of our workers. Stone-throwing and harassment are common.

The DPC is proud of the environmental programmes related to the Dabhol project. The plant will be fuelled by natural gas, one of the cleanest fuel sources available. In addition, the DPC has undertaken many projects, many of which were developed in consultation with agricultural universities, such as tree-planting programme on the site.

Allegations that the project would harm fishing and farming have been reviewed by independent environmental experts and found to be baseless. The project also was reviewed by consultants to project lenders and received clearance from the ministry of environment and forests.

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