Ker prepared to takeover loss making Hindustan Newsprint Ltd

: The Kerala government today informed the Centre that it was prepared to take over the loss making Public sector Hindustan Newsprint Ltd at Velloor in Kottayam district.

A letter in this regard was sent to Union Heavy Industries minister Anant Geete by State Industries minister A C Moideen.

The move comes in the wake of the Centre's plans to place the company for auction and a transaction advisor being appointed for the purpose, the minister said in the letter.

He said the state was keen to discuss the issue with the Centre before any further steps were taken on the matter.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to the Centre on the matter several times and the state assembly had also unanimously passed a resolution to take over HNL.However there had so far been no favourable response from the Centre, he said.

"It was the neglect and liberalisation policy of the Centre which pushed the company into a loss making unit", the minister alleged.

Though HNL had been running at a loss for the last five years, it had not received any financial help from the Union government or the parent company-- Hindustan Paper Corporation, the letter stated.

In order to help HNL, Kerala has supplied raw material at cheaper rates, absorbing the losses, the minister said.

The state government had also decided to take over the loss making Palakkad based Instrumentation Ltd.