On October 16, 1996, Prime Minister (PM) H D Deve Gowda, had called a meeting of chief ministers and power ministers in New Delhi to discuss the problem of power shortage facing the country. While the PM's speech emphasised that without power, advances in agriculture or industry were impossible, it exposed his philistine attitude towards related environmental problems.

The PM argued that current Central procedures have delayed clearance of power projects. He said, "All these procedural wranglings unnecessarily consume more time and things do not move in the proper direction.

' Gowda, thereafter, proposed to delegate powers to states for power project clearance. He said, "On captive generation I have given powers to you (states). On cogeneration, we have given powers to the states. For projects up to Rs 1,000 crore, by competitive bidding, we have given permission to the states. Now I am prepared to go a step further. Why should the state governments come to Delhi? Are they not responsible to the people of the state or the people of the nation?'

Among all the hurdles confronting such clearances, the one he particularly seemed eager to remove was