Drop 'ill-thought' moves to sell Telangana assets, KTR tells Modi govt
K T Rama Rao, Telangana’s IT and industries minister, has urged the Narendra Modi-led government to drop its “ill-thought moves” of selling central government assets worth ₹40,000 crore, including those of PSUs in Telangana.
In a letter to finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rao said that the BJP government is planning to sell Hindustan Cables Limited, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited, HMT, Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) and Ordinance factories in Telangana as part of its disinvestment plans.
However, the state government had allotted 7,200 acres to these companies and PSUs at marginal prices and sometimes for free because they had wanted to generate employment for the locals and promote industrial development in the state, pointed out Rao in the letter. And, the value of these lands would now be around ₹5,000 crore under government rates and according to open market prices, the value could be over ₹40,000 crore, he claimed. The Centre is trying to sell these companies and PSUs as part of its disinvestment plans.
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Slamming the Centre’s move to sell PSUs under the guise of disinvestment, he asked, under what provisions or rights was the NDA government selling PSUs set up in different states. Selling these companies and PSUs were tantamount to selling the assets of Telangana government, he added.
Rao then went on to cite the case of how when the Telangana government had asked the Union government to allot lands for the construction of Skyways to improve transportation in Hyderabad, the Centre had demanded compensation as per market price, he claimed. How can it now sell the land parcels that were allotted by the state government for setting up PSUs, he asked.
The central government’s plans to sell the assets were making a mockery of state government’s rights, he said. The minister pointed out that many states, including Tamil Nadu, were strongly opposed to the Centre’s moves to sell PSUs that have been set up in their respective territories.
“It is unfortunate that the Modi government did not provide job opportunities to the unemployed youth. If the PSUs were reopened, they would provide direct employment to thousands and indirectly millions would be benefited,” KTR said.
In his letter to Sitharaman, Rao suggested that instead of selling the assets, the Union government should concentrate on trying to revive and strengthen the PSUs. If that is not feasible for the Centre, then the state government should be given an opportunity to set up new industrial units in such lands, he said.
Rao appealed to the Modi government to reconsider their plans, if not the Telangana government would strongly oppose and obstruct their moves. “These ill-thought moves to sell PSUs in Telangana should be withdrawn,” demanded KTR.
