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Stand-off between Orissa govt and AES resolved

The week-long stand-off between the Orissa government and the AES Corporation was resolved late on Wednesday night with the US power major agreeing to switch on the IB thermal power unit shut down by it.

AES had shut down one of the two units of the IB thermal power station in Jharsugda district on May 17 last to compel the Grid Corporation of Orissa to pay arrears amounting to Rs 1.42 billion.

It finally relented after protracted negotiations between managing director Edward Grayson Harvell and the state government on Wednesday and switched on the shut down unit on Wednesday night.

The chairman-cum-managing director of Gridco, Priyabrata Patnaik, said on Thursday that the unit had been restarted, and expected normalcy to be restored by Thursday noon.

Top officials of AES and Gridco would hold discussions during the day to sort out all issues including arrears outstanding against Gridco, Patnaik said.

The US power company holds 49 per cent stake in the power plant run by Orissa Power Generation Corporation, while the state government has 51 per cent majority stake in the company.

Apart from affecting the state grid, the week-long tussle between the government and AES had assumed serious proportions with the former contemplating invoking provisions of the Essential Services Maintenance Act to proceed against the managing director of the US company.

The state law department had okayed the proposal, but the government refrained from taking any precipitate action in view of its international implications. Orissa was the first state in the country to opt for full reforms in the energy sector.

The state government in order to force the AES officer to come to the negotiation table, had on Monday last got a resolution adopted by its nominees in the OPGC board which restrained the managing director from taking any financial or commercial action without prior approval of the board.

Harvell, who is the only AES member on the board, the other two having resigned, did not attend the meeting.

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