Surplus land of CPSEs under disinvestment to be sold at mkt

The Centre on Wednesday said the disinvestment process of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) will be done in a transparent manner and surplus land of such units would be sold at commercial rates to states or any private party.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour that the surplus land issue of CPSEs will be "dealt with separately" during the disinvestment process.

The government has given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of 28 CPSEs including Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).

Responding to a query if huge land given by state governments on lease to CPSEs, that will be divested, will be returned to them or not, the minister said, "The land was not given to respective PSUs as a charity."
Responding to another query on apprehension that CPSEs will be divested at a cheaper rate, the minister said, "Nothing will be in the dark. Nothing will be under cover. Everything will be black and white, and transparent. The process is on."