Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao came down heavily on the Centre for resorting to disinvestment in public sector undertakings (PSUs) and handing them over to corporate houses across the country. He said the Narendra Modi government was putting the lives of millions of employees and their families in jeopardy through disinvestment. He vowed that the TRS will stand by the employees and make all efforts to safeguard the PSUs by joining hands with other like-minded political parties.
In the GHMC preparatory meeting with the TRS MPs, MLAs and MLCs at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, Chandrashekhar Rao said the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru established several PSUs with a lot of foresight. He said people have been benefiting through these PSUs over several decades, but the BJP government at the Centre was intentionally weakening them through disinvestments to hand them over to corporates. He pointed out that the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee began destroying the PSUs under the guise of disinvestment policy. He said while the Vajpayee government disinvested in seven PSUs and the successive Manmohan Singh government disinvested in three other PSUs, the Modi government has disinvested in as many as 23 PSUs.
“The Narendra Modi government has not launched even one PSU and on the contrary, it is closing down the existing PSUs. This policy will do a lot harm to the country, its people, lakhs of employees, staff, and workers working in these PSUs,” the TRS president said. He said the Modi government was paving the way for privatisation through disinvestment of PSUs like BHEL, NTPC, BSNL, Defence, and BPCL among others to raise Rs 1 lakh crore. He stated that lakhs of employees of these PSUs were agitating and they are demanding that these PSUs should not be privatised.
The Chief Minister questioned the logic behind closing or privatising profit-making organisations like Indian Railways or the Life Insurance Corporation. “Even during the Covid-19 pandemic period, the Railways served the people. Where is the need to privatise the Railways? Modi, who claims to have sold tea on the railway platform during his childhood, is now selling the Railways itself. How should one understand such retrograde policies?” he questioned.
Chandrashekhar Rao said LIC was the pride of India having 40 crore policy holders and has Rs 30 lakh crore assets. He pointed out that in 2020-21, the Union Budget declared LIC dividend as Rs 2,600 crore. “The Rythu Bima Policy of the Telangana government is being implemented effectively by the LIC. Where is the need to privatise such an organisation, which is important and need of the hour?” he demanded to know.
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