M A I N   N E W S

No decision on A-I, IOC
Disinvestment panel to meet again next month
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 22 — The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) today deferred a decision on selling government equity in several public sector enterprises, including Air-India, Indian Oil Corporation and Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, and decided to meet again in mid-May to finalise its decisions on various proposals.

Briefing mediapersons after a meeting of the CCD and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said while there was complete consensus on the need to pursue the government’s disinvestment policy, it was decided that the Committee on Disinvestment would meet again after May 15.

During this period, the Minister for Disinvestment, Mr Arun Jaitley, would hold discussion with nodal ministries to finalise the modalities of disinvestment proposals.

Asked what the modalities meant, he said in some cases the government could divest up to 51 per cent of its stake while in others it may be 20 per cent. All issues would be finalised between the nodal ministries and the Disinvestment Ministry, he said.

Mr Mahajan said the idea behind disinvestment was to make public sector units stronger and under no circumstances would the employees’ strength go down.

Asked if there would be retrenchment in PSUs, Mr Mahajan said it had to be employee-friendly.

Eight proposals were to be taken up by the CCD, including that of Air-India, Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, the Indian Oil Corporation, the Kudremukh Iron Ore Project and the National Mineral Development Corporation.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also met during the day and approved the Great Eastern Energy Corporation proposal on exploration and exploitation of coal-bed (CBM) methane gas in the Raniganj areas of West Bengal.

The total area available to the company in the Raniganj area would be 210 sq km. As per the proposal, the GEECL would enter into a contract with the Government of India and the terms of the contract would be negotiated and finalised by the Petroleum Ministry with the mandate of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries comprising Secretaries of Petroleum, Coal, Finance, Law and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

Mr Mahajan said the 2.5 per cent royalty payable to the Central Government under the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval by the firm would be treated as production level payment at a fixed rate and there would also be exemption in the customs duty for equipment imported for the block range coal field concerned as per the CBM policy.

The CCEA, headed by the Prime Minister, also gave its approval in principle to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to carry out exploration in deep-water areas by allowing it to have an alliance with experienced exploration and production companies.

It permitted the ONGC to select the alliance partners by inviting offers from shortlisted companies based on pre-determined parameters set by the Empowerment Committee of Secretaries.

Mr Mahajan said the Cabinet also decided that the new exploration and licensing policy would be applicable to the ONGC and its alliance partners for this deep-water areas.

This would be allowed as a one-time exemption limited to six blocks in three States, three in the Krishna-Godavari basin, two in the Kerala-Konkan basin and one in the Kutch basin in Gujarat.

The CCEA also decided to continue the oilseeds production programme with a total outlay of Rs 760 crore during the Ninth Plan of which the Central Government’s share would be Rs 585 crore.

The total area under oilseeds production would be 30 million hectares by the end of the Ninth Five-Year Plan compared to 26.3 million hectares at the end of Eighth Plan, Mr Mahajan said.

The CCEA also decided to release additional quantity of foodgrains for the drought-affected areas. Under the scheme, all families in the drought-affected areas would be given an additional 20 kg of foodgrains at below poverty line rates, irrespective of their status. The Centre had also decided to provide additional foodgrains for work programmes, he said.

The government sanctioned an outlay of Rs 142.48 crore for the centrally-sponsored integrated programme for development of spices during the Ninth Plan.

This would improve quality of spices produced in the country and make these more competitive in international markets, besides generating adequate exportable surplus, Mr Mahajan said.

The production of spices was expected to reach a level of 45 lakh tonnes per year by the end of the Ninth Plan with an average annual growth rate of 10 per cent. Today’s initiative by the government would extend cultivation of spices to non-traditional areas, particularly in the northeastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Cabinet also decided to implement and continue the centrally-sponsored scheme of Integrated Development Programme of Cashew and Cocoa in the country. The implementation of some schemes of the National Horticulture Board at a cost of Rs 108 crore were also given the nod.