Power dip trips Enron’s plant

The launch was to be attended, among assorted VIPs who were to be taken to the site by catamarans and choppers, by Enron’s power-packed US board including Enron chief Kenneth Lay, Enron International’s chief Joseph Sutton, and, of course, Rebecca Mark who mothered the controversial project every step of the way.

Always meticulous, and leaving nothing to chance given its previous experiences in the country, Enron officials even allowed for the vagaries of Indian politics.Since Parliament usually takes a break on the week-end, they planned the launch for Saturday, to allow the Prime Minister to inaugurate their plant — the last time around, the launch was planned for March but had to be put off because Parliament was in session. Unfortunately, for them, with Parliament not beginning on the 12th as scheduled — due to some holidays — the Speaker decided that Parliament would sit on Saturday the 17th, to make up for lost time.

Given the extremely precarious position the government is in, naturally Vajpayee was in no mood to inaugurate the plant, even if it is the country’s first privately-owned one.

While the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) did suggest that Enron go ahead with some other luminary such as, say the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Enron’s not having any of that. More so since, along with Vajpayee, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam will also be pre-occupied with Parliament and wouldn’t be able to attend the launch of the $1.07 bn 740MWpower plant.