Work on sick PSUs in advanced stage: Panagariya

The NITI Aayog vice-chairman said the issue of drinking water will be taken up with the Centre

NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya today said their work on the sick public sector units in determining the options of closure and restructuring was at an advanced stage than the second set of companies that will go for disinvestment.

"There are two sets of issues. One is, there are sick firms. The decisions are need to be made on sick firms. Whether you close them down or you restructure them. It is slightly at the advanced stage. The second issue deals with disinvestment. The work is underway," Panagariya told reporters.

It may be recalled that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2016-17 budget speech announced that the job of identifying the public sector companies for the proposed strategic sale has been entrusted to NITI Ayog. Some recent reports said that the organisation was on the job of submitting two lists of companies with its recommendations with regard to those that are sick and those that qualify for disinvestment.

Stating that they hope to move fast on the second set of companies as well, Panagariya, however, declined to give a specific time-line by when the NITI Aayog will submit its report on the strategic sale.

NITI Aayog on Tuesday held its first regional consultative meeting here with the five Southern states along with the Union Territories of Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands on its report on poverty alleviation.

NITI Aayog vice chairman responded to questions on issues of disinvestment, drinking water besides the state governments' stand on the parameters of poverty line that would be redrawn.

According to Panagaria, the NITI Aayog has assured the states that the poverty line would be used only to track the extreme poverty levels and it will not be linked to identification of beneficiaries under any social sector schemes either being implemented by the Centre or by the states.

"The general sentiment is that, set the poverty line at a point to know how extreme poor were doing, States will have their own criteria for implementing the poverty related schemes, " he said adding that most of the Centre's schemes including NREGA are of universal nature and require no such poverty line criteria.

States told the NITI Aayog that they will not have any problem with the ongoing exercise of poverty line determination as long as it was not linked to the schemes.

To take up water issue with the Centre

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog vice chairman announced that he would take up the issue drinking water with the Centre as drinking water is a fundamental necessity and it needs to be made available to every person. Stating that some states like Telangana have asked for funds to invest in drinking water projects, he said that the agency would make a recommendation in this regard for the benefit of the entire country.