New Delhi, November 20
In a bid to put at rest the controversy over disinvestment of “profit-making” Public Sector Undertakings by the Punjab Government, state Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, will submit a note to Congress President Sonia Gandhi explaining that his government’s decisions were not against the Congress policies on the issue.

The Chief Minister, on his first visit to the Capital after the SGPC elections, today met AICC General Secretaries Mohsina Kidwai and Ambika Soni and explained the state government’s handling of the SGPC polls in view of the declarations made by rival Akali groups to mobilise lakhs of their workers. Preparations for Mrs Gandhi’s visit to Chandigarh on November 23 also figured at the meetings. The Chief Minister also met Minister for Surface Transport B C Khanduri over the projects of the ministry in the state.

The disinvestment of “profit-making” PSUs being done by the Punjab Government had figured during Mrs Gandhi’s Press conference at the Congress Chief Ministers’ meeting in Mount Abu. Replying to a question, Mrs Gandhi said she would check from the Punjab Chief Minister about the disinvestment of the PSUs. The Congress is opposed to sale of profit-making PSUs and the note on disinvestment, prepared on the instructions of the Chief Minister, aims at apprising Mrs Gandhi of the state’s position on the issue.

Punjab government officials said the detailed note says the state’s total guarantees to the PSUs stood at about Rs 19,000 crore. They said only one of the five PSUs selected for fast-track disinvestment — Punjab Tractors — was not in the red but even in its case profit had been steadily declining.

The Punjab government’s shareholding in Punjab Tractors was only 23.49 per cent, they said.

The officials said the other corporations being disinvested, including PTDC, CONWARE, Punjab Communications and Punjab Alkalis, had been making losses for the past few years. The officials said the PTDC had accumulated losses of Rs 4 crore this year, Punjab Alkalis had losses of Rs 22 crore and Punjab Communication of Rs 32 crore.

They explained that the five PSUs had been chosen for fast-track disinvestment as they had an asset base and the combined employee strength was around 500.

They said following the report of the Disinvestment Tribunal set up by the Badal government, the Congress Government had set up a Disinvestment Directorate to decide the process of disinvestment of the PSUs except the five chosen for fast-track process.