Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister M Siddaramaiah on Thursday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to review the decision to Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) on the block for disinvestment.
Earlier, in January, the Union government approved for a 26% strategic sale in BEML. The government currently holds 54.03% stake in the firm.
In the letter, Siddaramaiah said BEML is a mini ‘navaratna’ Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) located in Karnataka with nine manufacturing units across the state.
The firm has been continuously paying an average dividend of Rs 20 Crores and taxes of around Rs 600 Crores per year to the exchequer. With its dedicated and highly sophisticated R&D facility it has always come up with innovative useful products in various sectors, he said.
Siddaramaiah's letter also pointed out that in the budget speech of 1999-2000, the NDA government had made a commitment that CPSEs will not be privatised.
The letter also says that privatising a profit making firm would help private players to reap benefits and profit at the cost of public and it’s likely to undermine the security of the country, considering BEML is involved in the manufacture of defence equipment.
BEML Employee unions have opposed the move to privatize the company. In October 2016, the cabinet had given its in principal approval to Niti Aayog’s proposal for strategic sale in more than a dozen state-run enterprises which included BEML.
Comments
0 comment