Privatisation -- UPCC chief warns of stir if SC/ST interests not protected
R.B. SINGH

LUCKNOW, MARCH 3: UPCC president Shri Prakash Jaiswal today warned that his party would begin an agitation if the BJP-led government in the state did not protect the interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, who enjoy the benefit of reservation in jobs while going for the ``wholesale'' privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs).

Jaiswal said that under a conspiracy to abolish reservation for members of these castes, the government was privatising even profit-making state units. Privatisation of PSUs, two percent reduction in the strength of government employees every year and proposed amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act to make retrenchments easier by the Union Government would lead to a sharp increase in the number of educated unemployed and consequential growth in violence and lawlessness, he feared.

Reacting to the Union Government's decision to sell BALCO for just Rs 500 crore to Sterlite Industries, ``a blacklisted company'', he claimed it was highly improper to sell a unit having a reserve capital of Rs 460 crore and total assets worth more than Rs 5,000 crore. A Parliamentary committee should probe the sale of the unit which has earned a profit of Rs 100 crore this year, he demanded.

Dwelling on the state's economic condition, he said under the Congress regime the situation was much better. Congress governments always presented surplus budgets he claimed, adding that the situation began deteriorating after the BJP took over in the state. The state's debt has reached Rs 80,000 crore and the government was finding it difficult even to pay its staff salaries on time, he stated.

The state government could get out of the red by pruning the size of its Ministry, he suggested. This would also drastically bring down the state government's expenditure but it does not have the guts to do so, he added.

When asked about the strategy his party would adopt in case Chief MinisterRajnath Singh contested from the Haidergarh Assembly constituency, he said his party would go to any extent to defeat him.

Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.