PMO 'resolved' matters only on request

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brajesh Mishra, and the Secretary in the PMO, Mr. N. K. Singh, today maintained that the PMO had not interfered in the affairs of any Ministry and had merely ``resolved'' matters on request when inter-Ministerial issues led to difference of opinion. Addressing a press conference this evening, the two senior officials refuted allegations made in a news magazine some weeks ago that the PMO had taken the initiative in a number of economic issues and had intruded into the ``domain'' of individual Ministries.

They said that the proposal for increasing the limit of foreign direct investment in the telecom sector had not emanated from the PMO but from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion with the approval of the Commerce Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, and the correspondence on the subject was entirely between this Department and the DoT. The proposal from the Industry Ministry was meant for the consideration of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telecom, headed by the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha. It was also emphasised that the proposal to increase the cap on the telecom sector was not approved by the GoM and was eventually dropped.

In the matter of migration of the existing private telecom licencees from a fixed licence fee regime to a revenue sharing arrangement, the two officials gave a detailed account of the various Cabinet meetings held in this regard, the opinion of the Attorney-General and discussions in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology and in Parliament itself. In short, the point made was that the decision to permit existing licencees to migrate to the revenue sharing regime was ``implemented based on approval of the Cabinet on two occasions and after careful consideration of the advise of the Attorney General, in the interest of the development of the telecom sector.''

Also refuted was the charge that the PMO was behind the move to allow basic service operators to provide limited mobility to customers and made out a detailed case that this was based on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). ``The TRAI's recommendations have been accepted by the Government and suitable guidelines have been issued. The Standing Committee of Parliament on Information Technology also agreed for limited mobility to be given by basic service providers, keeping in view the consumers' interests and reduced tariff costs to customers.'' The PMO note also makes it clear that the issue was considered in the full Telecom Commission and the decision was taken with the approval of the Communication Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan. About the counter-guarantee proposal for the Hirma power project, which was alleged to have emanated from the PMO, Mr. Mishra and Mr. Singh gave out a detailed sequence of events but admitted that because this project figured in the list of major U.S. power projects encountering difficulties in India, the matter was considered in inter-Ministerial meetings in preparation of the Prime Minister's visit to the U.S.

They said the Power Ministry had developed alternative payment security mechanism for the Hirma project which came up for discussion in the inter-Ministerial meetings. However, it was felt that counter-guarantee could not be accorded to an individual project and the Government did not give any counter- guarantee for Hirma power project. The present status was that further inter-Ministerial discussions are being held to finalise a payment security mechanism for the Power Trading Corporation with the clear understanding that there will be no Government of India guarantee.

About counter-guarantee to the Vizag power project, promoted by the Hindujas, they pointed out that the project formed part of the eight fast track power projects to be accorded counter- guarantee, for which a decision was taken by the Narasimha Rao Government. Subsequent decisions on fuel risk and related arrangements were taken by the Government, based on recommendations of concerned Ministries, the two officials said also pointed that till date, the conditions precedent to the guarantee have not been fulfilled and the period of the guarantee has expired and has not been renewed.

Similarly, they claimed that the PMO had not interfered in any road development project and that these projects were awarded by the National Highway Development Authority of India (NHAI). ``At no point of time has any specific contract come up for discussion in the PMO,'' they maintained. The same was said about the Oman fertilizer project, initiated by the previous Government, and it was emphasised that the matter had come up for consideration of the full Cabinet on more than one occasion and was approved by the Cabinet after careful consideration.

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