NEW DELHI, Sept 4 — The Union Cabinet today decided to restructure four stand alone refineries and revive viable National Textile Mills while closing down the unviable ones.

There are 119 NTC mills in the country which employ around 87,000 employees. The Cabinet decided that it would implement an attractive voluntary retirement scheme for employees of the sick units.

In the case of the four stand alone refineries — Cochin Refineries, Chennai Petroleum Corporation (formerly Madras Refineries), Bongaigaon Refinery and Numaligarh Refinery in Assam — the Cabinet decided to merge them with the Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

The government will sell its 55.04 per cent equity in Cochin Refineries to Bharat Petroleum while Indian Oil would be offered the government’s 52.5 per cent equity in Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and 74.46 per cent in the Bongaigaon Refinery.

In the case of the Numaligarh Refinery, where BPCL has 32 per cent equity and IBP 19 per cent, it has been decided that BPCL would take the entire stake of IBP.

These refineries-cum-marketing companies would be subsidiaries of the two oil majors. The government hopes to earn around Rs 1,800 crore, which is the book value of the three companies, barring Numaligarh Refinery, in its kitty.

The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Ram Naik, said the money would not be used to cover the budget deficit and cited the statement of the Finance Minister in this regard in Parliament.

In the case of the Numaligarh Refinery, the book value of IBP shares is around Rs 173 crore.

The Cabinet also took some other decisions, including inclusion and amendment of the Central List of Other Backward Class in the states of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat and Goa.

Similarly, 51 pieces of advice received from the Minorities Commission on the inclusion of OBC in Central List has been accepted.

The age of retirement of instructors of NCC girl cadets has also been increased by one year to 55.