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Tuesday, June
4, 2002, Chandigarh, India
  
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Disinvestment
panel for cut in PSUs staff
‘Private
bus transport on verge of collapse’ No
technology safe from hackers Graphic: Performance of 'Navratnas' |
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Philips
to launch Internet radio SBBJ net
spurts 56 pc, to pay 40 pc
SBP net
rises 49 pc PNB to
finalise insurance partner by June-end
SEBI rejects LSE
proposals Apollo
to set up 250 clinics
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Disinvestment panel for cut in PSUs staff Chandigarh, June 3 Mr Vaishnav, told The Tribune this evening that even general public can send its comments and observations with regard to the recommendations. Because of this reason, the report has been put on the website of the Punjab Government. He said that there were recommendations with regard to the closure of dead organisations, restructuring of certain organisations and safety net for the employees to affected by closures and restructuring process etc. He said that after the crystallising of comments, observations and objections from the organisations concerned and general public, the Commission would finalise its report by September 30 and hand over the same to the state government to take appropriate decision. The Commission has recommended that there should be a core group of Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary, Administrative Secretary concerned, Chief Executive of the PSU and the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister for examining the recommendations before the placement before the Council of Ministers. It has proposed the setting up of a Punjab State Asset Management Authority for implementing the decisions of the Government taken on the recommendations of the Commission. It has also proposed the creation of a full fledged Disinvestment Department for a specific period to take up the job disinvestment in a planned
manner. There should also be a provision of disinvestment fund managed by the Authority to be used for financing the restructuring, retrenchment, VRS and re-training for redeployment of employees etc. There are about 1.17 lakh employees working in the organisations for which Commission has made recommendations. The biggest among these is the Punjab State Electricity Board. The commission wanted that the staff strength of the PSEB, which at the moment is near 93,000 should be brought down to one third in the next few years. Specific recommendations
PSEB: Restructuring of the Board by rightsizing the staff by offering retrenchment or VRS to the identified redundant staff to the extent of 1/3rd of the present strength; specific contours of the bundling strategy be determined by a professional agency; the Board be corporatised to bring about a pro-change culture; power sector reforms in general and tariff reforms in particular must precede such steps; the distribution business be corporatised first and privatisation of distribution should start in small blocks with concentrated & sustained efforts to make it successful; State Power Commission be set up for holistic planning in the power sector and exploring viability of non-conventional energy projects; policy of free power to agriculture and other consumers be discontinued; tariff should be revised over the next five years so that every consumer bears the average cost of power supply; Board should act as facilitator for setting up mini-hydel and other non-conventional energy projects through public-private participation. Punjab Water Supply & Sewerage Board (PWSSB)
Dissolution of the board and setting up of a new Corporation for flexibility & leverage of funds; the proposed corporation should draw a perspective plan, induct private sector in operation & maintenance; facilitate tariff reforms by establishing a Regulatory Authority; facilitate urban local bodies to avail Central Government Funds for this purpose and introduce technological upgradation; identified redundant staff be offered VRS/retrenchment compensation; obsolete & unusable assets be disposed of through public auction. Milkfed:
Restructuring of the Federation by providing VRS/retrenchment compensation to identified redundant staff to reduce overheads; redefine the marketing of product mix in consultation with NDDB; develop capability to market new products and invest in latest technology and plant & machinery through strategic partner; to increase contribution of its market share of cattle feed and milk by members of milk societies. Punjab State Warehousing Corporation: Retention of the corporation; till MSP in operation proper foodgrain management system be evolved; permanent allocation of the Mandis and rice mills be got done so as to curb misappropriation of paddy by rice millers and taking care of transport needs and other infrastructure requirement for procurement operations; to collaborate with railway authorities to set up large capacity covered godowns at the railway sidings. Markfed:
Restructuring of the Federation by rightsizing; VRS/retrenchment compensation be offered to the identified redundant staff; permanent allocation of the Mandis and rice mills be got done to curb misappropriation of paddy by rice millers and taking care of transport needs and other infrastructural needs for procurement operations; to reorient co-operative marketing agencies for crop diversification through Growers’ Federation and contract farming particularly for fruits, vegetables, pulses and oil seeds; to facilitate multi-control multi chamber cold storages and cold chain systems to transport fruits and vegetables; to promote co-operative primary agro-processing units at village level and secondary processing federation at cluster of villages level; divest 74 per cent share in all the industrial units to strategic partners through two stage bidding; to reduce its role in agro-input business by transferring the same to co-operative marketing societies in a phased manner; alternative use or sale of assets of the closed units; to act as export house for bulk foodgrains and fresh / processed vegetables, fruits and cut-flowers; should evolve proper foodgrain management system and to test it on pilot basis. PSIDC:
Rename PSIDC as Punjab State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation (PSIIDC) to facilitate public-private partnership in development of infrastructure in general and that for industry in particular; developing long term vision of State’s infrastructure needs in collaboration with well reputed concerns having national/international experience; marketing of State as an investment destination; reorient State for attracting investment in emerging business areas. PUNSUP:
Winding up of the corporation alongwith its 18 outlets for supply of non-essential items by offering retrenchment compensation to the employees; assets alongwith PDS work be handed over to the Department of Food & Civil Supplies; activity of supply of pulses and other foodgrain items to army be transferred to Markfed; bank borrowings be made good by Government; pending closure, the Corporation should try to move the entire foodgrain stocks and retain personnel employed for storage purposes; settle recovery dues through one time settlements; pursue pending claim of Rs.65 crore with the FCI by maintaining the skeleton staff for this purpose. PAIC:
Winding up of the Corporation; pending closure it should suspend procurement activities, quality control staff be retained till handing over wheat stocks to FCI is complete; one time settlement for recovery of dues; close down agri-input trading premises and vacating the premises by accepting cash compensation; role of facilitator for promotion of agri-processing be entrusted to PSIIDC and as a catalyst in crop diversification and marketing to MARKFED; statutory liabilities be met by the State; assets be sold through public auction and staff be given retrenchment compensation. Punjab Infrastructure Development Board: Restructuring into a Trust to administer the Punjab Infrastructure Development Fund and Punjab Infrastructure Initiative Fund; PSIIDC will perform the role of Secretariat for the Trust and will jointly engage in marketing of the State as an investment destination; to facilitate the development of projects through public-private partnership. Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation: Winding up of the Corporation; activities of raw material supply and training be transferred to Department of Industries for implementation through District Industries Centre; emporia be privatized; industrial estates alongwith liabilities be transferred to
PSIIDC. |
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‘Private bus transport on verge of collapse’ Ludhiana, June 3 In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, the representatives of various passenger transport operators, led by Mr Fateh Singh Libra of the Libra Bus Service have sought rationalisation of the tax. The memorandum demanded that the transporters should be asked to pay the tax at the rate of the passengers travelling in the bus. They suggested that the bus tickets should be stamped and the tax should be imposed only on the tickets sold. Putting up a strong case for the rationalisation of the special road tax, Mr Libra said that the running cost of per bus per kilometre was Rs 13.50, while the income was not more than Rs 12 per kilometre per bus. Besides, he pointed out, the diesel and other input costs had also witnessed a phenomenal rise during last few year. The bus transporters also demanded a check on carrying of passengers by the trucks and tempos in the state. Besides leading to the losses to the state and the bus transporters, it also leads to frequent accidents and loss of life. A case is already pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard. Although the state government has filed an affidavit to prevent the flow of passengers through tempos and trucks, no steps have been taken on the ground level. Supporting the government campaign against the operation of illegal buses running without permits and other legal documents, the transporters urged the Chief Minister that only the private buses should not be made the target. They pointed out hundreds of buses run by the state governments of Punjab, Haryana and the Chandigarh Transport Union were also flouting the norms, but nobody intercepted them and asked any questions. While assuring total cooperation to the government to monitor and regulate the bus services in a proper manner, the transporters urged the CM that the state run buses should also be subjected to the fitness tests. All the private buses are subjected to fitness test every year. However, no tests are conducted for the government run buses. Moreover, a number of government buses have outlived their life and are running on roads at a great risk. Besides, such buses are not entitled to the insurance compensation also. The transporters demanded a strict check on the operations of the buses by the Haryana government and the CTU. They alleged that both Haryana and the CTU were running more buses in Punjab than stipulated in the agreement with them, thus leading to huge losses to the state on account of road tax. They also demanded check on the registration of Tata Sumo vehicles in Haryana, which later are plied in Punjab for carrying passengers. |
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No technology safe from hackers Chandigarh, June 1 “It is going to cost us a packet. But we want to make sure that the technology available to our subscribers is absolutely state-of-the-art and hacker-proof”, says Mr Vijay Kaul, Vice-President, Connect. Hence, the additional expenditure. “But I must point out that this expenditure was totally unnecessary. There is no technology which is completely safe from hackers”. Operators are constantly implementing security safeguards to curb these hackers. There are ample safeguards available in the CDMA technology to protect the operators/customers from any such hacking. And, it is not only CDMA networks which can be hacked into but also the GSM networks and SIM cards which are even more prone to such hacking cases worldwide. Mr V.P. Chandan, President, Qualcomm India, says: “Hacking onto telecom networks is a worldwide phenomenon and operators have to implement security safeguards to curb these. A number of manuals for hacking mobile phones are available on the web.” Hackers have become a big menace in the modern day computer age. Hackers are a threat to the country’s economy and should be stopped immediately. Information security breaches are on the rise with more than 80 per cent of the industries surveyed by the CII and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) having suffered some form of information security breach in the last 12 months. This has been brought out in a survey on “Information security,” conducted by CII-PwC, which shows that there has been a 20 per cent rise in information security breach as compared to 2000-01. “While virus infection continues to be the most chronic of all kinds of breaches, hackers and unauthorised users are also responsible for over two-thirds of the security breaches,” the study points out. Even though hackers claim that what they have done is a technological breakthrough — the fact remains that this can be done even by a 15-year-old who knows how to surf the Net. The first case of cloning of cell phones occurred in 1995 and a number of manuals for hacking cellphones are available on the web. Anyone can pick up these methodologies from the websites which are available on the Net. The law says: Hacking is a punishable offence according to the IT Act. “A hacker can be imprisoned for up to three years and can be imposed a fine of Rs.2 Lakh, according to IT ACT 2000 section 66 of chapter 2.” Says Pawan Duggal, advocate, Supreme Court. “In the developed countries the judiciary and the anti- hacking division of crime prevention agencies are quite successful and have, therefore, been able to book such criminals regularly. In India the cyber crime laws are a recent phenomenon and, therefore, the authorities concerned are quickly catching up with the crime prevention aspects to enable India to leverage it’s IT knowledge for major economic gains in the international market. As this technology develops, both hacking and anti-hacking measures are evolving equally rapidly playing the game of cat and mouse — like any other crime category,” says Mr
Kaul. |
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Philips to launch Internet radio Chandigarh, June 3 She was here on account of the MP3 promotion campaign by Philips for which the company has roped in pop singer Bally Sagoo. Philips, which acquired patent for manufacturing audios using the MP3 technology around two years back, has tied up with the pop singer to project its MP3 products as a brand for the youth, she said. The promotion campaign in the six identified cities — Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad — that began around a fortnight ago will conclude on June 8. Talking about the new products, Ms Sahai said Internet radio where one will be able to listen to music from anywhere across the world using broadband is expected to be a major revolution. She said the company will emphasise not only on its MP3 products, but also the DVD segment and home theatre segment. Regarding the Philips share in the market, she said in the audio segment, the share is more than 40 per cent and the aim is to retain its top position in the market.
"Chandigarh being the trendsetter for Punjab and other states around, the company is focusing on the city which has a major growth potential", she said, adding that,
"the northern region has almost 36 per cent share in our total audio segment’s turnover". |
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SBBJ net spurts 56 pc, to pay 40 pc New Delhi, June 3 The dividend, subject to the approval of Reserve Bank of India, is 5 per cent higher than that declared in 2000-01. Total deposit was up by near 13 per cent to Rs 11,661crore while advances rose by a similar proportion to Rs 6,257 crores for the year ended March 31, 2002. By according priority to low cost deposits, the bank was able to reduce its cost of borrowing to 7.57 per cent in the last fiscal as compared to 8.05 per cent in 2000-01. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 13.42 per cent in 2001-02, much higher than the RBI mandated nine per cent. The net non-performing assets of the bank was 5.72 per cent in 2001-02 as against 7.83 per cent in the previous fiscal.
PTI Andhra Bank net up New Delhi, June 3 Enthused by the impressive results, the bank has set a target of Rs 32,500 crore business (deposit and advances) this fiscal compared to Rs 28,472 crore in 2001-02, Andhra Bank chairman B. Vasanthan told reporters here today. |
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SBP net rises 49 pc Patiala, June 3 This was disclosed by Mr A.K. Purwar, Managing Director of the bank, while addressing a press conference here today. Mr Purwar said that the net profit increased from Rs 161.10 crore to 232.94 crore for the year ending March 31, 2002. He added that the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) came down to from Rs 694.76 crore to Rs 628.76 crore this year and the gross NPA’s ratio of the bank came down from Rs.9.66 crore to 6.94 crore. Mr Purwar attributed this to a customer focused approach aimed towards high growth and profitability. He further revealed that on the business front, the bank’s performance has been well above the growth of All Scheduled Commercial Banks (ASCB). As at the end of March 31,2002, the banks aggregate deposits stood at
Rs 13761 crore, showing a growth of 20.58 per cent against the ASCB’s growth of 14.25 per cent during the same period. Mr Purwar also said that 107 Self Help Groups (SHG) had been financed this year, taking the total number of groups financed to 215. He disclosed, that the bank was the first public sector bank in this part of the country to launch the facility of ‘anytime, anywhere banking’ by inter connecting 17 branches and 6 ATM’s in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Chandimandir and SAS Nagar. |
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PNB to finalise insurance partner by June-end
New Delhi, June 3 “We will finalise the insurance partner by June-end,” PNB chairman S.S. Kohli told PTI but declined to name the companies shortlisted for the insurance ventures. PNB initially decided to tie up with Zurich Financial and three more PSU banks including Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank and Vijaya Bank but the agreement did not materialise. Apart from PNB, other banks and FIs which are looking at entering the sector include Bank of Baroda, IDBI and Nabard.
PTI
Pays 63.67 cr dividend
The bank has paid Rs 63.67 crore to the government as dividend following an impressive Rs 562.39 crore net profit during the last fiscal. The dividend paid by PNB chairman S.S. Kohli to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha amounted 11.3 per cent of the net profit and 30 per cent of the bank’s capital.
TNS |
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SEBI rejects LSE proposals Ludhiana, June 3 SEBI had in January last asked all stock exchanges in the country that the elected Directors could not be the office-bearers. Accordingly the Ludhiana Stock Exchange amended the articles of the association in March and sent it to SEBI with a rider that the present office-bearers — President and Vice-President Jaspal Singh and Rajiv Kalra — would continue till the next annual general body meeting.
SEBI in its communication to the LSE has rejected the proposal and asked it to delete this clause from the Article 110 of the association of the LSE.
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Apollo to set up 250 clinics Bangalore By the December end, 20 Apollo clinics, state-of-the-art family health centres which provide solutions for day-to-day health care needs will be in place, AHLL CEO Ratan Jalan told reporters here. The company was also in negotiations to set up such clinics in Colombo, Bangladesh, Singapore and West Asia.
PTI
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Capital Bank VLCC NHPC Kenwood Godrej products Infosys arm HUDCO’s bonds |
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