State need not compensate Enron -- Purohit

State need not compensate Enron -- Purohit
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NAGPUR, JAN 11: The State Government is not obliged to pay a single paisa to Enron if it scraps the agreement with the company, and as such, it should not hesitate to do the same, suggested senior Congress leader and former member of Parliament Banwarilal Purohit here on Wednesday. Purohit was addressing a specially convened press conference.

The corruption indulged in by the erstwhile Sena-BJP government in the whole affair was to the tune of five hundred times that in Bofors, Purohit claimed. As a result, the State is now buckling under the pressure of having to pay huge money to the multinational power company, Purohit said, asking why the `advocates' of Enron like Mahajan, Munde and Gadkari were now silent. The government should have the whole affair probed by a High Court judge and register criminal offences against all those responsible for the mess, the Congress leader demanded.

The State Government can approach the Supreme Court for justice in the Enron case and there is no need for approaching any international agency for having it scrapped, Purohit opined. "The law of the land is applicable in the case," he said.

The central government is trying to blackmail the State Government on the issue by saying that we are liable to pay Rs 25,000 crore to Enron in case the agreement is scrapped and that if the state wouldn't pay the amount the Centre will pay the same and deduct it from state funds, Purohit charged and exhorted the state government not to pay heed to the threat.