Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

NLC disinvestment

With Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announcing that the DMK would withdraw support to the Government at the Centre if it did not drop the proposal to disinvest shares in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, the Prime Minister had no option but to put the move on hold. Mr. Karunanidhi has come to the rescue of the NLC. He should remain firm in his decision, now that the employees have rejected his proposal that they be given preferential allotment of shares.

C.P. Velayudhan Nair,
Kochi, Kerala

* * *

Before the Government announces any move to offload shares from a PSU for resource mobilisation in future, it should take the employees into confidence. Mr. Karunanidhi first suggested that the NLC employees be given preference in allotment of shares. When the Centre agreed the Chief Minister had to drop his own proposal, because the NLC staff did not find the option feasible, and ask the Centre to give up the disinvestment proposal. He should have ascertained the views of the trade unions and evolved a consensus of opinion before making the suggestion. He could have avoided the flip-flop.

V.S. Sankaran,
Madurai

* * *

The PSUs enrich the concept of a socialist republic. The UPA Government, which is functioning on the basis of a common minimum programme, should not have taken the decision to disinvest in NLC in the first place. When it takes decisions outside the co-ordinating forum of allies, it will be constrained to roll them back. That the Government dissolved the disinvestment ministry is not enough to prove its bona fides.

V.P. Ramesan,
Tripunithura, Kerala

* * *

PSUs are a unique feature of the Indian economy. Though they may perform below peak efficiency, their earnings accrue only to the government and the people. Can the UPA Government not raise Rs.1100 crore from other sources to fund the social sector?

K.R. Krishnaswami,
Chennai

* * *

Will the Government be satisfied with one-time receipt of Rs.1100 crore (which can otherwise be raised by issuing bonds)? The NLC is a symbol of national pride. It stands on the soil sacrificed by thousands of poor peasants, farmers and landowners who surrendered their land for paltry compensation because it was required for public purpose. It should not be allowed to go into the hands of private players in the long run.

M.N. Srinivasan,
Vellore, T.N.

* * *

When the Government is not even raising a whimper on mounting NPAs in public sector banks, and tax arrears from big corporates and industrial houses, one finds its move to raise Rs.1100 crore from divestment surprising.

J. Anantha Padmanabhan,
Srirangam, T.N.

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