Corp. (ENE) was 
authorized to issue a termination notice to pull out of a controversial power 
project in western India, the largest foreign investment in the country, a 
newspaper reported Friday.
  The board of the Dabhol Power Company, the Indian subsidiary of Enron, met 
in London on Wednesday and authorized the company's managing director to 
issue a preliminary notice to terminate the project, billed as the world's 
largest natural gas fired power plant, The Times of India reported.
  "The board has given powers to the management to issue the pre-termination 
notice. But the meeting unanimously felt the need of the hour was not to 
terminate the project but to initiate a re-negotiation process," Vinay 
Bansal, chairman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, was quoted as 
sayingThe project has 
been in trouble since December when the government of Maharashtra state, 
where the Dabhol project is located, said the tariffs were exorbitant and 
demanded a new price agreement.
  The state power utility said it could not pay Dabhol's monthly electricity 
dues, which prompted the company to invoke a federal guarantee in February.
  This was the first time in India that a federal guarantee was invoked. As 
part of the 1995 agreement between the company and the state government, the 
federal government has to pay in case of a state default.
  But before the federal government stepped in, the state government paid $17 
million in outstanding bills. Since then, the state power utility has 
confirmed that all pending bills have been paid.
 