Government to revive 5 sick units, plans VRS for staff of 6 others

The government has begun the process of reviving five sick public sector undertakings, while for employees of 6 PSUs beyond redemption it is working on a voluntary retirement scheme of Rs.1,000 crore, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete said Thursday.

"Out of 11 sick PSUs, process for reviving 5 has started and these shall be revived. However, the remaining six units, which cannot be revived, we have decided on making a one-time settlement proposal of VRS for the employees of these units," Geete told a press conference here to mark 100 days of the NDA government.

"The state-run units which have been identified by the government for revival include HMT Machine Tools, Heavy Engineering Corporation, NEPA Ltd, Nagaland Paper and Pulp Company and Triveni Structurals," he added.

"The six companies which cannot be revived are Hindustan Photo Films Ltd, HMT Bearings, HMT Watches, HMT Chinar Watches Ltd, Tungabhadra Steel Products and Hindustan Cables, which have a combined employee strength of 3,603, the minister said.

"Since the last several years, we have been paying salaries to all the employees of sick PSUs. We have spent Rs 3,000 crore on that. Instead of spending more thousand crores on that, it will be better that we spend once and for all. We are making a proposal for one-time settlement costing around Rs 1,000 crore for employees of 6 PSUs not capable of revival," Geete added.