MDMK, CPM oppose NLC disinvestment

Vaiko recalled that former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had announced that NLC would not be privatised and charged the present government under Narendra Modi with forgetting Vajapayee’s promises.

Vaiko recalled that a decision to disinvest 51 per cent of the NLC shares was taken in 2002 and he moved a special call attention motion against the move. Vajpayee reversed the Centre’s decision, respecting the sentiments of Tamil Nadu at that time, he added. He questioned the need for the Centre to sell PSUs that earned profits. Vaiko said NLC, which was set up in 1956, had earned a total profit of Rs 2,349 crore and shown a 14 per cent growth in coal extraction and thermal power generation. 

The total thermal capacity of the plant is 4,240 MW, besides 10 MW of solar power and 51 MW from wind energy, he said. CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan flayed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s announcement that Rs. 72,000 crore would be earned by the Centre through the disinvestment of public sector units. 

The centre had planned to get Rs. 800 crore by selling 15 per cent shares of NLC, he said and warned that the move would lead to bad consequences. The disinvestment policy had led to industrial slowdown ad unemployment, Ramakrishnan said and described the move as an ‘anti-national act'.