PUNE, MAY 23: The leader of National Alliance of Peoples' Movement (NAPM), Medha Patkar on Thursday cracked her whip against Maharashtra police and the government machinery which she alleged were on the pay roll of Enron.

Speaking to mediapersons after her release from Yerwada prison where she was lodged for participating in an anti-Enron agitation at Guhagar, Patkar lamblasted the state government's indifferent approach for the now four years old stir against the 2415 MW capacity US power giant. Over a hundred locals who also had courted arrest along with Patkar were also released today.

The saffron alliance government re-entering into an agreement with the Dabhol Power Company would prove to be a worse scam, if all its facets were exposed, Patkar said, adding that NAPM supporting the local organisations would strengthen the anti-Enron stir.

The agitation also was spreading, Patkar said, countering the notion that the locals' opposition to the power island coming up near Guhagar in north Ratnagiri had died down. The satyagraha launched by the locals supported by NAPM activists from all over the country has been an apt reply to the criticism against locals, she said.

Patkar and another anti-Enron activist from Pawar Sakhri village Sadanand Pawar, criticised the police for suppressive tactics. The police machinery was being misused for Enron, Pawar alleged, adding that the Enron affected people were fighting against the State government and police, who had a nexus with Enron.

Sarpanch of Anjanwel village adjacent to Enron project, has `asked the police not to enter the village every now and then', a Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Sadhana Dadhich informed reporters. Patkar also expressed displeasure over the stance of local courts.

Over 8000 hectares of land was being acquired in Guhagar for petrochemical projects, Patkar said, condemning the repressive practices resorted to by the government. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has agreed, in principle, to discuss the Enron-DPC proposal across the table, sans any action, she added.

Countering the Enron propaganda on it coming out of the legal trap, Patkar stated that the Supreme Court re-examining the State government's changing stance on Enron would bring the criticism against the power project on anvil.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.