Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 17: Though the PDP-BJP Coalition Government is planning to present Budget for 2016-17 financial year in the month of January when more lofty announcements would be made, major decisions of the Budget 2015-16 have yet not received the required focus till date. This can be gauged from the fate of much-talked about transformation of 19 ailing Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs).
Finance Minister, Dr Haseeb A Drabu while presenting Budget for 2015-16 financial year on March 23, 2015 had announced comprehensive transformation of 19 Public Sector Enterprises by drawing them out of the ambit of different administrative departments and bringing them under one managerial and administrative basket for holistic corporatization and financial restructuring.
This decision of the PDP-BJP Coalition Government was seen as a major step towards bringing these PSEs from the status of ailing to productive stage and was widely appreciated as even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its numerous reports has suggested either infusing of new lease of life in these ailing PSEs or winding them up because of being burden on the State’s exchequer.
Moreover, Bureau of Public Enterprises was constituted in the year 2013 to review, coordinate and evaluate functioning of 19 PSEs in the State and even a Task Force had gone into the categorization of these PSEs and recommended certain measures for their revival as such the announcement of the PDP-BJP Government about transformation of Public Sector Enterprises was seen as a right decision keeping in view the fact that time has come to make them relevant to the contemporary market context.
However, despite lapse of nearly eight months no exercise has been initiated to translate Budget announcement into reality, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding even the foremost step of issuing formal order vis-à-vis drawing the PSEs out of the ambit of different administrative departments and bringing under one managerial and administrative basket for holistic corporatization and financial restructuring has not been initiated.
“Even no major exercise has been initiated towards formation of two holding companies and classification of these PSEs into two groups-financial and non-financial”, sources said, adding “this exercise is necessary keeping in view the fact that divestment at the level of holding companies can be possible only after completion of re-engineering process”.
“The non-serious approach towards this announcement is notwithstanding the fact that this was the part of the new policy of transforming Government, governance and economy”, sources regretted.
Pointing towards the Budget statement of the Finance Minister, sources said that it was also announced at that time that the Government will also carve out some administrative departments and put them into the non-departmental fold. Moreover, it was given to understand that this change would be made from the State Motor Garages (SMG), which shall move from being an administrative department to being a non-departmental undertaking.
However, no step has so far been taken in this direction also thereby making the mockery of the key Budget announcements.
“The major announcements of the Budget like transformation of 19 Public Sector Enterprises should have been taken seriously by the Government”, sources stressed, adding “no-doubt translating announcements like this into reality is a time consuming process because of lengthy exercise involved in the same but beginning should have been made by now especially in the light of the fact that Government is planning to present Budget for next financial year after two months”.
“The Government should have categorized Budget announcements so that necessary steps could have been initiated without wastage of time in respect of those decisions which require sufficient time for translation into reality. This is also imperative as performance of any Government is measured with the implementation of Budget decisions”, sources said.
It is pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir has 21 PSEs and Corporations and Jammu and Kashmir Bank, in which State Government has a majority stake, and the J&K Power Development Corporation have been kept outside the ambit of restructuring decision.
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