Jammu, Aug 7: In the face of repeated warnings by the 13th Finance Commission and following the introduction of new fiscal policy, J&K government has started final ‘clean up process’ to close down non-performing Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the state.
 Sources said a Task Force constituted by the government is meeting the heads individually to review the financial position of each PSU before the final decision is taken about the future of these undertakings.
 The Task Force headed by economic advisor to government Jalil Ahmed Khan has been tasked to review the financial conditions of the existing PSUs and give its recommendations for their revival or closure.
 Sources said that process has been speeded up by the state in the backdrop of repeated warnings by the 13th Finance Commission to bring the fiscal deficit down to 3 per cent. The state, they said, have been time and again told to achieve the target if it wanted to secure sustained funding from the Planning Commission of India (PCI) in future.
 There are 20 state-owned undertakings in J&K and except J&K Bank Limited (JKBL), all others have turned into ‘white elephants’ for the state exchequer. State has already introduced VRS and GHS for the surplus workers in these organisations. 
 Official sources said that with a view to save some of the units engaged in promotional activities (Handicraft and Handloom), the corporation heads have been asked to submit Detailed Project Report (DPRs) to set in the process for their revival.
 When contacted Economic Advisor to the state, Jalil Ahmed Khan said that many manufacturing units have already been shut down in past few years and now the final process is on to speed up the closure of others, so that long pending reform process is initiated.
 “Sickness is common to all and we are giving individual treatment to the units so that restructuring process is not delayed further”, Khan said.
 According to the official sources, the main stumbling block before the government is that most of the units have not submitted regular audit reports with the default ranging from 5 to15 years. “These things are being kept in mind before taking any decision on the fate of sick units,” said Minister for Industries Surjit Singh Slathia, adding, “This mess could not be cleared in one go, but need a long term strategy and we are making steps in this regard”.

PRESENT STATUS
* J&K Industries Limited: Asked to downsize staff strength by offering VRS to employees. It has identified 1077 employees as surplus out of the available strength of 1643. The move aims to lessen the wage bill of Rs 16.91 crore to Rs 6 crore.

* J&K Horticulture Produce Marketing and Procession Corporation: Audit default for last 15 years.  It been forced to adopt VRS scheme for downsizing and reduction in the wage bill.

* J&K Minerals Limited: Audit default for last 15 years, last audit 1992-93. Downsizing of establishment by implementing VRS/GHS. Asked to close down unviable units.

* J&K Handicrafts Corporation: Not audited its account for last 11 years. Last audit conducted in 1997-98. Downsizing of employees started through VRS/GHS.

* J&K Agri-Industries Development Corporation: Asked to start VRS scheme for employees.

* J&K Handloom Development Corporation: Incurring huge losses - government asks the management to take steps to downsize employees’ strength.

* J&K State Financial Corporation: Audit default period 5 years. The Management restructuring will also include downsizing the corporation to reduce its establishment cost.

* J&K State Road Transport Corporation: Period of default 5 years, last audit 2004-05. Already implemented the downsizing of the employees.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 7 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 7 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 8 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST