NEW DELHI, May 19: The Ministry of Industry is seeking a three-fold increase in resources for the National Renewal Fund (NRF) for public sector units. In its budget demands to the Finance Ministry, the Industry Ministry has said that the funds are not enough to fulfill the demand for VRS in public sector units.Last year the NRF had received about Rs 250 crore from the Finance Ministry. This year the Industry Ministry has asked for about Rs 800 crore. While NRF is unlikely to get the entire amount, it is expected that a higher sum of Rs 500 crore may be given.Trade unions have criticised the government's lack of interest in putting more funds in the NRF. In a meeting last week with the representatives of Industry Ministry which administers the NRF and the Labour Ministry, the trade unions said that a paltry 1 per cent of the Rs 2000 crore spent on NRF so far since 1992 had been spent on retraining. The unions demanded that the government spend more money on retraining so that the package given under VRSis put to good use.Till now over 1 lakh PSU workers have availed of the VRS. But the funds made available for this has been on the decline since it was announced. The scheme was more of a success the government expected. The amount released for VRS was Rs 556.72 crore in 1992-93. In 1993-94 the inflow fell to Rs 478.06 crore, then it was Rs 250.81 crore in 1994-95 and Rs 209.58 crore in 1995-96. In 1996-97 NRF reached its lowest figure with just Rs 195.50 crore being released. The figure increased to Rs 250 crore in 1997-98, but it is still far short of the demand.Sources say that one of the reasons for the Government not giving more money is that it would lead to a sudden flight of workers from bleeding units.One of the major sources of funds for the NRF could be the money garnered from the sale of PSU shares.
