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Disinvestment panel adds Hindustan Copper, Pawan Hans to list

Dr D M Nanjundappa, member of the Disinvestment Commission, on Tuesday said the commission had urged the government to disinvest from Hindustan Copper Corporation and the Pawan Hans Company.

He said in its fourth report, submitted to the government recently, it had also urged the government not to disinvest from the Powergrid Corporation which was an important arm in the infrastructure sector, while urging disinvesting of the shares of Shipping Corporation to oil companies to the tune of 30 per cent and 10 per cent to the workers.

By selling the shares to oil companies, which were also in the public sector, the government could retain 26 per cent of its stake and would not lose control of the Shipping Corporation, he added.

Nanjundappa said following deregulation, the Hindustan Copper Corporation was in the red and required Rs 6 billion for its revival. In the highly competitive field, the company was unlikely to survive and it was best that the corporation was handed over to the private sector, he added.

Dr Nanjundappa said similarly, the Pawan Hans Company, which was running helicopter services basically for oil companies including the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, was not in a position to survive. If ONGC and other oil companies were willing, the shares could be disinvested to them, or else it could be handed over to the private sector, he added.

He said a major highlight of the report was on labour restructuring.

While calling for a total revamp of the voluntary retirement scheme, the commission had called for setting up a new fund in which a portion of the proceeds from the disinvested companies could be pooled for retraining those seeking VRS so that they could gain employment elsewhere.

Though the ministry of industrial development had a similar scheme for training employees who lost their jobs in sick industries that had closed down, it had not been effectively utilised. He said hardly Rs 50 million of the Rs 350 million set aside for the purpose had been used last year.

Dr Nanjundappa stressed the need for retraining surplus employees of the public sector units instead of retrenching them. If the trend of retrenching the workers continued, the rate of unemployment would go up. He said there was a need for flexibility in the labour market.

Nanjundappa said the commission had also recommended to the government to evolve a new VRS policy under which employees seeking VRS would be only paid part of their total compensation with the balance pooled in an insurance scheme under which they could get a substantial amount every month for their livelihood.

He said the government should also come out with an income policy.

UNI