New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met the protesting employee union leaders of the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and attacked the proposed disinvestment of the PSU. The Centre is looking to offload 30 percent stake in the company and is offering transfer of management control as well.
After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "Highly profitable and strategic, the Container Corporation (CONCOR) is a PSU jewel that some of the PM's greedy crony capitalist friends are hungry for and the Govt plans to sell. I met members of the CONCOR union today. Please share their attached petition and support their cause."
The union handed a petition and requested Gandhi to take up the matter with the government. The Congress has alleged that the government is planning to sell part of its stake at a throwaway price and has undervalued the assets of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), another PSU that the Centre is planning to disinvest. The sale of 30 percent stake in the Railway PSU will fetch the government Rs 8,000-9,000 crores.
"CONCOR is the only Navratna PSU in railway… It was given Rs 65 crore in the year 1989-90 towards paid-up capital (at the time of being established) and has paid back a dividend of Rs 4,669 crores, Rs 2,155 crores via disinvestment of 45.2 percent stake," the petition said.
In FY2018-19, CONCOR recorded a turnover of Rs 7216.14 crores and total profit of Rs 1,689 crores. "It is added that with the completion of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, the market value of CONCOR will increase from the present Rs 34,733 crores to Rs 1 lakh crores because all its container terminals are strategically located in the vicinity of dedicated freight corridor," the document said. The union also claimed that the company has never taken any budgetary support from the government since its inception.