The looser PSUís
The state of affairs in Public Sector Undertakings in Jammu and Kashmir is no hidden secret. Most of them are running in red as the various governments that have managed the state of affairs over the years have used these PSUís to dump their blue eyed workers and officials without considering the effect it will have on these corporations.
Just few months back when the PDP-BJP alliance was running the state of affairs, the government had appointed 16 top party officials as vice chairpersons of 16 PSUs and the move drew a lot of criticism from the Opposition as well as experts on financial matters.
However, Haseeb Drabu, the then finance minister had pitched for restructuring of PSUs to make them more organised. But his proposals did not move beyond the papers. The fact remains that most of the PSUís which were created to earn revenue for the state have turned into white elephants and are increasingly becoming dependent on the state for bailing them out quite often.
These PSUís are not even in a position to generate revenue to pay off the salaries of its employees not to talk of initiating any fresh investment that will fetch them some good returns.
The last governmentís initiative to bring 18 PSUís back on track also proved a futile exercise as these firms continue to bleed.
If government sources are to be believed 18 PSUís suffered losses worth 230 crore in the past two years. J&K Cements Ltd tops the list with a loss of Rs 46.74 crore-Rs 31.73 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 15.01 crore in 2017-18.
JK State Road Transport Corporation and JK State Financial Corporation are other PSUs suffering huge losses with the latter posting losses of Rs 1.02 crore in 2016-17, way more than its losses of Rs 45.73 lakh in the year before.
This being the state of affairs the State administration had to act and take some tough decisions vis-‡-vis these organizations. And if the State Administrative Council (SAC) has approved streamlining of the procedure for procurement of Goods and Services and award of contracts by Public Sector Undertakings/Autonomous bodies/Societies and to bring transparency, equity, economy of expenditure and financial propriety, the step needs to be welcomed.
Most of the public sector undertakings/autonomous bodies/Societies in the State of J&K receive significant financial assistance from the Government. However, there have been issues related to transparency, equity and economy of expenditure in the creation of posts and recruitments which henceforth shall be made with the prior concurrence of the Finance Department. There have also been issues related to award of contracts by these bodies.
The SAC also ordered that no new posts shall be created by the PSU’s and no recruitment against vacant posts shall be made by these organizations without the prior concurrence of the Finance Department.
These steps had become necessary given the fact that the political leadership in the state was hell bent of turning these organizations into crap rather than an asset for the state.
KV Network
