New Delhi, December 9: In what is perhaps the biggest indictment of the way things are run in the country, seven years after it first embarked on a $1.3 billion power project in Mangalore, the US-based Cogentrix today decided to pull out of the country. Conceding defeat to the public interest litigation (PIL) brigade which have targeted all major projects in the country, the company announced this afternoon in Bangalore that it `had ceased development of the Mangalore power project . and was now in the process of shutting down its offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and at the site in Pudubidri.'The reason? Almost from the very day it began putting together the 1,000 MW project, the company has been plagued by all manner of court cases. And when, after 5 years of battling and winning mostly frivolous cases, another public interest litigation was filed, this time in the Supreme Court, arguing that Cogentrix had given bribes to get the project, one of the 8 fast-track power projects that the government hadearlier promised to push. Since the case is still pending, all that the stunned power secretary V K Pandit and Special Secretary Pradip Baijal had to say to the press today was: ``the matter is sub judice.'' While Power Minister P Kumaramangalam refused to meet the press, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna said the state had tried its best, and requested Cogentrix to be a bit more patient.Cogentrix's press statement today, however, made it clear that the company and its partner in the project, China Light and Power, had lost their patience. ``As a consequence of these developments,'' Cogentrix said, ``the continued development of the Mangalore project is no longer feasible.'' Ron Somers, the Mangalore Power Company's chief executive said ``he sincerely regretted that they were unable to justify further expenditure of resources and time to achieve the construction of the project.''Apart from the ongoing corruption case, other public interest litigations the company have faced include one by ManekaGandhi. Maneka Gandhi alleged, based on a study by NEERI that the power plant was violating the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) which does not allow plants to be set up within 500 metres of the coast. The court finally dismissed Maneka's PIL when it was found that the NEERI report wasn't too convincing - in any case, just a year earlier, NEERI had cleared the MRPL refinery just 8 km from Bangalore. By this time, however, Cogentrix had spent over Rs 1 crore on lawyer's fees.Of the other 8 PILs it fought, and won, before the corruption ones came along, one was essentially the same that was filed against the public sector NTPC when it was first developing the Mangalore project - the NTPC PIL was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 1991, but was still entertained the second time around.Ironically, the Cogentrix-China Light's Mangalore Power Company was so confident of overcoming all legal hurdles that, a couple of years ago, after it won the environment cases, it even began the tendering process forequipment, and even awarded the equipment - the bids were jointly scrutinised by both MPC and the Karnataka Electricity Board. Things began looking up for the project when, after the Pokharan blasts, the Government also announced that it would clear the Cogentrix counter-guarantee the moment the corruption court case got over. That, of course, never happened.INSIGHTShort-circuiting Cogentrix 1992: Govt of Kanataka, State Electricity Board and Congentrix sign tripartite MoU for a $ 1.3 billion 1000 MW power plant at Mangalore. 1993: Cogentrix submitted first proposal for Techno economic clearance (TEC).1994-97: Counter guarantee issue discussed with three governments under Rao, Deve Gowda and Gujral. 1996-97: Environmental groups in Karnataka filed a PIL in the Karnataka High Court alleging environmental damage. Court dismisses this after a year. 1997: Another PIL filed in the Supreme Court on whether there should be a CBIinquiry into the allegations of corruption in the project. 1999: Court finishes hearing in January, but judgement still pending Dec 1999: Cogentrix pulls out.
