White Paper sought on disinvestment

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. Accusing the Government of disinvesting public sector undertakings (PSUs) without proper valuation and transparency, the Opposition in the Lok Sabha today demanded a White Paper on the issue as also creation of a separate parliamentary standing committee to look into the functioning of the Disinvestment Ministry.

Participating in a discussion on disinvestment, the members charged the Government with resorting to indiscriminate disinvestment.

Initiating the debate, Mr. Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) said ``I demand a White Paper on disinvestment as a single Minister is taking decisions about issues not falling under his Ministry's jurisdiction.`` He also demanded a separate standing committee to scrutinise each and every decision on disinvestment and alleged that there was lack of transparency in valuation of the PSUs sought to be disinvested.

Intervening, the Rural Development Minister, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, defended the Government's disinvestment policy saying this was the only alternative left to raise finances for various developmental projects.

The Opposition took exception to the Government fielding the Rural Development Minister, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu, as its first speaker in the discussion on disinvestment of public sector undertakings.

The Government inducted four new members in the reconstituted Disinvestment Commission being headed by Dr. R.H. Patil. The new members are Mr. T.L. Shankar, former Advisor, Planning Commission, Dr. V.V. Desai, former Director and Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank, Professor K.S.R. Murthy, former Director at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Mr. N.V. Iyer, senior partner of C.C. Choksi and Company, an official statement said.

- PTI, UNI

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