(Phone rings)
Niira(NR): Hi Shalini. Shalini(SH): Hi sorry, Niira. I was caught up in a meeting and then..
NR: What's happening? SH: [laughs]... I'll tell you, umm... We showed the letter to Mr. Tata, hmm?
NR: [murmurs] Hmm. SH: And he said eh ...you must show this to Harish Salve.
NR: [Overlaps] Yeah he told me this over the weekend.
SH: And Harish apparently, Niira, you must be knowing, he is on leave. Back only now next week.
NR: Hmm. SH: So we have...so obviously we have to park the letter till next week.
NR: Oh my. SH: Hmm. So and, also what is happening is he has also recommended...
SH: ...Mr Tata, that, we should break the letter in two parts.
SH: One is where we talk about the uh...communication to the ...basically the interpretation of the Supreme Court order.
NR: Haan. SH: Okay and the other one which will then be...uh...interpretation of the order and saying that, keeping the order in mind where we are not obliged to serve you...uh, because the generator can tie up or whatever.
NR: Hmm. SH: We are giving you, you know, nine months or whatever to make an arrangements.
NR: Hmm. SH: And then the next letter talking about our history of litigation etc ...and that we have...we want to see their...that that...that one I am just indicating to you but I will send you the actual draft. It's work in progress.
NR: Hmm. SH: Since we got the feedback yesterday. NR: Mr.Tata's view was maybe the contract should have been terminated right. Why we are giving him nine months.
SH: Actually Niira we are only giving it to save our face. NR: To save our face? SH: Haan. Otherwise section 11 will, you know, is till September. I think we are mainly doing it for consumer. So that we don't invite consumer er...issues.
NR: Yeah I told him that. I said we will have serious consumer issues. SH:.. we will.. you know our own network like we were discussing that day, nine months we will have atleast some sort of network expansion.
NR: Hmm. SH: To even show our face to the consumer when we say that we will come to you directly. Okay?
NR: Hmm hmm, hmm. SH: Which is not the case right now Niira! Right now our expansion also...that 3000 customers we acquired post the order, was the retail order. We got 3000 customers on our board...on board okay!
NR: Hmm. SH: We have been able to get them mainly where we have our existing receiving stations. NR: Hmm. SH: And we have been able to pull the wire to give them connection. Okay? Literally that way.
NR: Hmm. SH: Otherwise ... the proposal is up for approval with MERC in terms of something like 300 crores every year for next 3 years...and in nine months time atleast we will have considerable network expansion to show.
NR: [murmurs] Hmm hmm. SH: That is where we are and -
NR: So we are waiting for a week. SH: Haan so we are waiting for him to come back and I was gonna actually...send you a mail, only to you actually because I wasn't sure whether I should...
NR: No no no. It's fine. The other thing was that I wanted to just mention to you I have been in - post this whole gas issue, that happened yesterday,- I have been talking to the editors and giving them a larger perspective. My view is that when it came to coal, they went to uh, the EGoM got a diversion of coal. Coal is a natural asset.
SH:[murmurs] Hmm hmm. NR: When it came to spectrum, they went to Mr. Raja paid him a bribe and got spectrum allocated. SH: Hmm.
NR: When it came to gas, they went to a High Court and got a High Court to issue an order, on the basis of the pricing of the gas which had nothing to do with a High Court. It's a natural, it's again its an issue that concerns the people of India. Two brothers and their MOUs can hardly be the basis of deciding how to handle the the future of our natural resources.
SH:[murmurs] Hmm. NR: It came to steel, setting up an iron ore plant in Jharkand when he doesn't even have a steel plant. It's getting iron ore mining done and it's getting that [indiscernible]. In all cases it's been a natural resource where he just fixes the system, whether it's through Amar Singh or through anybody else and the coal issue happened when the nuclear deal was going on. And again he does that and fixes the system and gets whatever he wants done.
NR: So in all cases here is Mr. Anil Ambani whose only way of survival is fixing the system and getting natural resources allocated. Be it gas, be it coal, be it iron ore now or spectrum. SH: Hmm.
NR: It's a compelling argument! SH: Hmm? NR: It's quite a compelling argument. SH: Yeah it is actually and ...
NR: It should be left to the hands of Prime Minister, it should be a special committee. It should not be left to a department. It should not be left to ministries or for that matter coalition partners. SH: Hmm hmm.
NR: It should not be left to anybody who can be compromised. It should be decided as a natural resource policy by the govern... by the country's head. SH: Right! No I am I think it's actually coming out very clearly now.
NR: It is. isn't it? SH: Hmm hmm hmm.
NR: Yeah yeah . And that's the status today as it stands. It cannot be ...whether it is Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Tatas, or whoever it is, it doesn't matter. But it should be decided at a different level. You can't leave it with Mr. Raja or Mr. Shinde or anybody else to decide the [indiscernible]. It should be one policy. You can't leave it with Mr. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka to decide na or for that matter Mr. Madhu Koda to decide. SH: Oh yes. Absolutely.
NR: yeah. So i just thought I'd give you this to think it through and see whenever you guys have briefing,...you should how you do [overlapping with next line] critical thing as resource which requires you going forward.
SH: Hmm, hmm hmm hmm. No no, it's a very compelling thought. I will make a note of this and I'll tell... the ship also.
NR: I'll send you a note and I told Manoj Warrier to prepare a note.
SH: Yes. Infact Manoj sent an update this morning which I forwarded to these four and it's useful because it...it you know we were all keen to know how... how he is looking at other things. And I'll - but you know this part of when we brief the editors which you brought across...is a very strong part that you know they are actually looking at natural assets. And even land we have been looking at this way you know. Dadri and other places if you see Niira,- what they have done is they haven't put any project. They have just acquired land. And left it like that.
SH: And in between the real estate price went up quite a bit right? Around that time. Even that, even land they have been trying to acquire and not put up projects also makes you feel...that you know, there is a different reason for doing that. NR: Correct! Correct correct. No you should look at this. SH: Okay.
NR: I will send you a note on what I have yeah! SH: Sure sure!
NR: Okay and let me know what's... SH: I'll let you know. I'll keep you posted. I am just waiting for those drafts, you know, split drafts. (Clip ends)