THE ENRON CORPORATION: Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Violations Human Rights Watch New York AAA Washington AAA London AAA Brussels TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Summary and Recommendations .................................................................................. 1 Recommendations.................................................................................................... 5 To the Government of India............................................................................... 5 To the Enron Corporation.................................................................................. 5 To the Government of the United States............................................................ 8 To Private and Public Financial Institutions that Financed the Dabhol Power Project ................................................................................................. 8 II. Background: New Delhi and Bombay........................................................................ 10 Political Opposition to the Project ......................................................................... 25 The Munde Committee Report............................................................................... 26 The ARenegotiated@ Project .................................................................................... 29 The CITU Lawsuit ................................................................................................. 31 III. Background to the Protests: Ratnagiri District ........................................................ 38 Land Acquisition.................................................................................................... 42 Environmental Degradation ................................................................................... 44 Fresh water....................................................................................................... 45 Contamination of salt water............................................................................. 47 Warnings of Protests .............................................................................................. 48 Organization of Opposition to the Project.............................................................. 50 IV. Legal Restrictions Used to Suppress Opposition to the Dabhol Power Project .................................................................................................................... 52 The Bombay Police Act ......................................................................................... 53 The Code of Criminal Procedure ........................................................................... 55 The Indian Penal Code........................................................................................... 56 V. Ratnagiri: Violations of Human Rights 1997 ............................................................ 58 Arrests of Protesters ............................................................................................... 59 Targeting of Protest Leaders .................................................................................. 65 Medha Patkar and B.G. Kolse-Patil: March 1997 ........................................... 66 Medha Patkar: May 1997................................................................................. 67 Externment orders: 1996-97 ............................................................................ 74 Arrests at Guhagar police station: January 1997.............................................. 75 Sadanand Pawar: February 1997 .................................................................... 77 Abuse of the Indian Penal Code............................................................................. 78 Regarding property damage............................................................................. 79 Regarding disputes with DPC contractors and police...................................... 81 Katalwadi Village: April 1997...................................................................... 87 Sanjay Pawar: February 1997....................................................................... 92 Veldur raid: June 1997 ................................................................................. 95 VI. The Applicable Laws.............................................................................................. 100 International Law ................................................................................................. 100 The Laws of India ................................................................................................ 102 VII. Complicity: The Dabhol Power Corporation ......................................................... 104 VIII. Responsibility: Financing Institutions and the Government of the United States ........................................................................................................ 112 Phase I Financing................................................................................................. 113 The U.S. Government........................................................................................... 115 Phase II Financing................................................................................................ 122 IX. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 125 Appendix A: Correspondence Between Human Rights Watch and the Export-Import Bank of the United States..................................................................................... 128 Appendix B: Report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee to Review the Dabhol Power Project....................................................................................................... 133 Appendix C: Selected Recommendations and Conclusions from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy, May 29, 1995 ................................................... 155 Appendix D: Correspondence Between the Government of India and the World Bank.......................................................................................................... 158 Key Individuals Named in this Report Montek Singh Ahluwalia: Former secretary of the Indian government=s Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance. M.I. Beg: Chairman and ex-officio secretary of the Indian government=s Central Electricity Authority. Mangesh Chavan: A local activist in Ratnagiri. V. Deshmukh: A circle inspector in Ratnagiri district. Bobby Farris: General manager of the Enron Power Development Corporation. Y.P. Gambhir: Chairman of the Indian government=s Central Electricity Authority. Joëlle Chassard: Senior financial analyst of the World Bank Energy Operations Division, India Country Department. B.G. Kolse-Patil: Former Bombay High Court Justice and leader of protests against the Dabhol Power project. Manohar Joshi: Current chief minister of the state of Maharashtra under the Shiv Sena-BJP government. Sanjeev Khandekar: Vice President for Community Relations for the Dabhol Power Corporation. S.D. Khare: Former secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Residing in the village of Guhagar, Khare is a local leader of opposition to the Dabhol Power project and provides legal aid to villagers arrested for their participation in protests against the project. Rebecca Mark: Formerly chief executive officer of the Enron Power Development Corporation. Currently the chief executive officer of Azurix, Enron=s water development corporation. Vivek Monteiro: Secretary general of the Center of Indian Trade Unions. U.K. Mukhopadhyay: Maharashtra government=s secretary of energy. Gopinath Munde: Current deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Ajit Nimbalkar: Chairman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Hazel O===Leary: Former secretary of Energy of the government of the United States. Medha Patkar: An internationally and nationally recognized environmental activist. Chairperson of the National Alliance for People=s Movements (NAPM), a national environmental organization which led demonstrations against the Dabhol Power project. Sadanand Pawar: A professor of economics in Bombay. Originally from Pawarsakari village near the Dabhol Power project. A recognized leader of local protests against the company. Sharad Pawar: Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra vii N. Raghunathan: Chief secretary of the Maharashtra government=s Department of Industries, Energy and Labour. N. Ramji: Joint secretary of the Indian government=s Ministry of Power. M.S. Rane: Bombay High Court Justice who sat on the two-judge division bench which heard Center of Indian Trade Unions and others v. Union of India and others. V.V.R.K. Rao: Secretary of the Indian government=s Central Electricity Authority. P.G. Satoshe: Assistant sub-inspector at the Guhagar police station. Howard Schweitzer: Counsel for administration in the office of the general counsel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Sunip Sen: Bombay High Court lawyer who represented the plaintiffs in the Center of Indian Trade Unions and others v. Union of India and others. B.P. Seraf: Bombay High Court Justice who sat on the two-judge division bench which heard Center of Indian Trade Unions and others v. Union of India and others. M.B. Shah: Chief justice of the Bombay High Court. B.N. Srikrishna: Bombay High Court Justice who initially heard the case Center for Indian Trade Unions and others v. Union of India and others. Joseph Sutton: Chief operating officer for the Enron Corporation. Formerly the managing director