Shimla: Of the 25 public sector undertaking in Himachal as many as 15 of them were in the red and 8 others were showing marginal profits, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal led the assembly know today.
In response to a question by Kaul Singh Thakur of congress during question hour, the chief minister held that problem of overstaffing and unprofessional way of functioning were responsible for the sad state of affairs in state PSU’s.
According to the latest auditor’s report, 15 out of the total 25 boards/corporations of HP were running up losses, 8 had marginal profits and the remaining two which were started recently, there expenditure assessment was yet to be done, said Dhumal. According to assessments done there were over 740 surplus staff in the PSU’s, he added.
To cut operating costs, the government planned to merge some of the PSU’s. Governments efforts to disinvest some of these PSU’s had not borne any fruit as no organization has come forward to buy these loss-making undertakings, he said.
An amount of Rs 2.74 crore for salary and pension to 102 employees of Agro Industries Corporation was outstanding and there was no spare funds available with the state government to clear this amount at the moment, said Dhumal.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
