Disinvestment plan may go awry: GVR

The panel chief, who had written to finance minister Yashwant Sinha last month on the commission’s role and mechanism for disinvestment, said "We are disappointed. Issues relating to disinvestment have not been sorted out."

Ramakrishna, the founder chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said that the government had not taken a decision on the recommendations for strategic sale of about 17-18 undertakings.

"How can the government reduce its stake to 26 per cent in about 200 non-core undertakings only on the basis of a policy statement when it does not have a mechanism in place to undertake the job?" he asked.

Ramakrishna said the government’spolicy statement lacked three specific issues pertaining to sell-off of its equity in public sector units (PSUs). There is no mention of disinvestment commission recommendations, no full-time implementation mechanism and no clarification on disinvestment commission’s role, he said.

On the government’s proposal to close down some unviable undertakings after providing an improved voluntary retirement scheme along with setting up of a VRS fund, he said it would only serve a limited purpose. "VRS is only a small part of the problem faced by the PSUs. What about the workers in PSUs that need not be closed down?," he said.