Polls over, Buddha takes up PSUs for Phase II of reforms

The Left Front8217;s victory in the recent Assembly elections is being seen as a vote for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee8217;s reforms agenda.

The Left Front8217;s victory in the recent Assembly elections is being seen as a vote for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee8217;s reforms agenda. Now, his government is all set for Phase II of its public enterprise restructuring programme.

Already, the project has been delayed by several months due to the Assembly polls. But the good news is that less people may be forced to accept the exit scheme than was originally planned, cutting the government8217;s Early Retirement Scheme ERS bill substantially, and shrinking the size of the project from Rs 1,700 crore proposed earlier to Rs 1,000 crore.

The proposal for Phase II, along with the financial details, is before the Union Cabinet awaiting clearance so that it can be forwarded to the UK Government8217;s Department for International Development DFID for funding.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the State Principal Secretary for Public Enterprise, Ardhendu Sen, admitted that the implementation of the project has been delayed by five-six months due to the election process. The proposal was sent to Delhi in March-April. He hopes to see the file cleared by the Centre in about a month8217;s time.

However, with the process already underway in the power sector, it has been found that the need for ERS can be substantially lowered by re-training and re-deploying, particularly the unskilled work force.

8216;8216;This is likely to happen in the other sectors and entities being taken up for restructuring in Phase II. We expect the ERS bill to be cut remarkably due to this,8217;8217; Sen informed.

The power sector is likely to run up an ERS bill of Rs 100 crore. The transport sector will probably take up another Rs 150 crore. However, ERS for 2,000-3,000 workers in the transport sector is inevitable, official sources said.

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The concept note for the second phase talked of tackling 29 public sector undertakings PSUs. These units employ about 80,000 people and run up total annual losses of Rs 665 crore.

The restructuring plan included three power utilities 8212; West Bengal State Electricity Board, Durgapur Projects Limited and West Bengal Power Development Corporation. The other key sector to be tackled are the five State Transport Corporations. This apart, 22 companies in the government fold are to be included.