New Delhi: Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said on Saturday that the government has approved the revival, merger, or restructuring of eight public sector undertakings (PSUs). In a written response submitted in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the list of these eight PSUs include Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Steelwork Construction Ltd, Richardson & Cruddas Ltd, NEPA Ltd, Hooghly Printing Company Ltd, Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd, Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
"Further, the Department of Fertilizers has informed that 4 closed fertilizer plants of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL), namely Talcher, Ramagundam, Sindri and Gorakhpur and similarly, Barauni plant of Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. (HFCL) are being revived by setting up new Ammonia Urea plants of 12.7 lakh metric tonnes per annum capacity each," Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has issued guidelines for "revival and restructuring of sick/ incipient sick and weak Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs): General Principles and Mechanism of Restructuring" on 29th October, 2015, to be followed and implemented by the administrative Ministries /Departments, the minister informed. The administrative Ministries/Departments of CPSEs are responsible for monitoring the performance of CPSEs functioning under them and taking timely measures for revival/ restructuring of sick/loss making CPSEs. After, consultation with stakeholders and obtaining approval of the competent authority, the administrative Ministries implement the plan.
Earlier this year in May, the government had announced its plan to follow a new public sector enterprise policy, under which the Centre is set to go for widescale restructuring through mergers and acquisitions (wherever necessary) and disinvestment or privatisation. The Centre has categorically said that PSUs in non-strategic sectors will be disinvested, and a maximum of four PSUs will be allowed to operate in strategic sectors.
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