The Union government has informed the State that it has in-principle approved the cent per cent disinvestment in HLL Lifecare Limited, Minister for Industries A.C. Moideen has said.
Replying to a question in the Assembly on Tuesday, the Industries Minister said the communication received from the Centre to the State government on January 15 had stated that the disinvestment plans was as per the directive of the NITI Aayog.
The Industries Minister said the move was despite the appeal made by the State at the highest level to retain HLL, a Miniratna company with headquarters in the State capital, in the public sector. The Centre’s disinvestment plans of public sector units would result in unemployment and affect the industrial development of the State.
The Centre had been urged to retain FACT, HOCL, BEML, HNL and Cochin Port Trust in the public sector and to pump in more funds and budgetary support for the development of these units, he said.
Mr. Moideen said the Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution on March 13 last year urging the Centre to retain Hindustan Newsprint Ltd in the public sector. A high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary is holding talks with the concerned for the takeover of Instrumentation unit in Palakkad by the State.
The Industries Minister said steps were being taken to retain BHEL Electrical Machines Ltd, a joint venture between Kerala Electricals and Allied Engineering Co. Ltd. and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, in the public sector as the Union government had decided to disinvest 51% of its equity.
Minister for Electricity M.M. Mani informed the House that there would be no power cut and load-shedding during the summer months this year and that KSEB had taken steps to avoid it. Replying to questions, the Minister said the priority of KSEB was to generate the maximum power from small hydro electric projects. An action plan had been prepared for this by KSEB and to tap more solar energy and wind energy in the coming days.
