Corporate rivalries derailing reforms, says Shourie

Monday, 02 September 2002, 19:30 IST   |    3 Comments
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NEW DELHI: Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie Saturday indicated differences within the government on economic reforms and lamented that corporate rivalries were derailing the process. "I have often said in the last two years that corporate rivalries are buffering decision making in many ways in government," he said in an interview to STAR News. "I have been pleading with the corporate houses themselves that 'Please, you are derailing economic policies this way,' " Shourie contended. Sourie also criticised the position taken by some in the government that the oil sector should not be disinvested because it is of strategic importance. "On one question of a substantive portion of the oil sector being strategic, everything in India is strategic. We have already opened up exploration - a much more strategic thing. "We have opened it up to foreigners. We have opened it up to the private sector. We have opened up terminals. That means foreigners are coming right into you port. "We have opened up pipelines. So what is this business that anybody will take your petrol pumps and put them in his pocket and run away? Defence Minister George Fernandes is reported to have expressed his reservations over the disinvestment of government stake in oil majors Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited on the ground that they were of strategic importance for the country. Fernandes had also requested that he be permitted to attend the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) when it discussed the issue. Fernandes is not a member of the CCD. The CCD meeting on the issue has been postponed four times in a row. Shourie also criticised the Indian investment of 40 billion in the petroleum sector in Sudan, which he described as "a failed state for oil. "There is talk of a pipeline from Oman through Pakistan. That is secure? I don't understand this," Shourie contended.
Source: IANS
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