Govt. not to invest in PSUs

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 12. The Government would not make any investment in the public sector, the Industries Minister, Mr. P. K. Kunhalikutty, told the Assembly today.

Replying to the questions of Mr. Adoor Prakash, Mr. K. C. Joseph, Mr. T. N. Prathapan, Mr. K. Mohammedali and Mr. M. A. Chandrasekharan, the Minister said that the Government would promote joint and private sector ventures. The industrial and IT policies were only approach papers. The Government was working on an action plan to revitalise the industrial sector. The plan would be implemented in a time-bound manner, he said.

Lack of professional management was one of the ills which dogged the public sector undertakings. Due importance would be given to develop a management cadre for increasing the efficiency of PSUs. The previous Governments had provided budgetary support to certain PSUs. Still, they had not registered any remarkable improvement. The Government would not provide budgetary support to PSUs without a clear perspective, he said.

``The Government is aware of the crisis that has gripped the cashew factories in the public sector. But no decision has been taken so far to provide financial support to CAPEX and the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation. The previous Governments have provided Rs. 100 crores to the industry but to no avail. Now the Government will have to provide Rs. 65 crores to support the cashew industry,'' he said.

The IT policy had sufficient safeguards to face the recession in the IT sector. The Minister allayed fears that the crisis triggered by the war would have a bearing on the State's IT sector, he said.

The PSUs had incurred a loss of Rs. 1190.87 crores between 1996- 97 and 1999-2000. The profit during the period was Rs. 806.68 crores. The capital investment in PSUs till March 31 last was Rs. 13,770.40 crores, he said.

Labour welfare fund

The Labour Minister, Mr. Babu Divakaran, told Mr. K. V. Kunhiraman, Mr. V.K.C. Mammed Koya, Mr. V. K. Chandran and Mr. Saju Paul that the Government intended to form a welfare fund for unorganised labourers such as washermen, barbers and housemaids. They would be brought under a common welfare fund. The formation of separate funds for various categories was not feasible, he said.

``Though autorickshaw drivers have a welfare fund, there are complaints that banks are reluctant to take the drivers' contribution. Steps will be initiated so that the drivers will be able to remit their contributions to the welfare fund officer itself,'' he said.

The previous Government had deposited Rs. 100 crores from various welfare fund boards in the treasury. This would be repaid once the financial situation of the Government improved, he said. Mr. Divakaran said that the Government had plans to invest the funds of the welfare fund in those schemes which would earn more returns. Treatment facilities would not be denied to labourers even if they had defaulted their contribution to the ESI, he said.

Cooperation

The Cooperation Minister, Mr. M. V. Raghavan, told Mr. V. Chenthamarakshan, Ms. P. K. Sreemathy Teacher, and Mr. Mathai Chacko, that the Government had plans to extend the medical reimbursement scheme to cooperative hospitals too. Regarding the Reserve Bank of India notification on unlicenced cooperative urban banks, Mr. Raghavan said that those banks had been formed under the Cooperative Act passed by the Assembly. Of the 94 Cooperative Urban Banks in the State, 41 were unlicensed, he said.

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