Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Kanam Rajendran has demanded that the Assembly pass a unanimous resolution against the Central government decision to disinvest HLL Lifecare.
Addressing a satyagraha of the Save HLL Lifecare Forum that entered the 30th day here on Tuesday, Mr. Rajendran said the State government had granted a lot of concessions to the company, including land free of cost, for bringing in Central investments and also generating job opportunities here. Now the Centre has decided to sell its shares to overcome fiscal deficit and the loss of revenue on pursuing neo-liberal economic policies.
The Centre was trying to sell the shares of all public sector undertakings that were registering profits such as Cochin Shipyard Ltd., Hindustan Newsprint Ltd., and FACT to garner resources for overcoming its resource crunch. Reforms such as the Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation had intensified the crisis. Growth rate had fallen by 2% and the prices of essential commodities were soaring owing to the wrong policies of the Centre. Now the government was trying to impose its lapses on the workers.
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The real intention of disinvestment was to sell land owned by Central public sector undertakings and thus make undue benefit by selling land resources.
The decision to disinvest HLL Lifecare would directly affect the poor and the marginalised who were getting medicines and other services at subsidised rates from the company.
Retaining the company in the public sector was a social necessity.
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Though all Central trade unions had staged an agitation in front of Parliament, the Centre had not repealed its decision.