Privatise sick bodies: Khambhatta

Piruz Khambhatta, the newly re-elected chairman of the Gujarat Council of Confederation of Indian Industry, has said that there is an urgent need to privatise loss-making state government boards and corporations. He said these had immense untapped human and financial capital.

"A lot of human and financial capital is locked away in the loss making boards and corporations of the state government. There is an immediate need to privatise these bodies, so that they become more productive. Like there is a disinvestment ministry at the Centre, the CII will press for the formation of a disinvestment department in the state as well," he stated.

Khambhatta said he will strive to work with the government in privatising the loss making boards and corporations his second term in office.

Citing the example of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC), the CII Gujarat Council chairman said even tour operators with two or three buses were doing excellent business and making profits. "With such a huge fleet of buses, look what state the GSRTC is in. Its losses are mounting by the day," he stated.

The other major emphasis will be on re-kindling the entrepreneurship spirit in Gujarat "which seems to have been diluted," Khambhatta said. "It has come to a point that Gujaratis who have gone out of the state have performed far better than those who are here. This is a dangerous trend. CII will continue to take steps to re-kindle the entrepreneurship spirit in the state," he said.

He added that it has been a while since there has not been any major initiative by Gujarat's entrepreneurs. "CII will concentrate on bringing out the entrepreneurship element. All our activities will be aimed at providing the right atmosphere to achieve this goal".

Khambhatta said that despite the focus on trade and commerce, special programmes will be organised to meet CII's responsibility towards the society. "It does not mean just donations. Money is important, but emphasis will be laid on educating the weaker sections of society, on environment preservation and the like," he said.

In 300 working days of 2003-04, the Gujarat CII Council organised as many as 343 activities, including nine mega events. There has been an 18 per cent rise in membership of the CII in Gujarat and new offices have been opened at Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat.

CII Gujarat also conducted 12 programmes with international delegations and worked with the state government in framing the bio-tech policy, IT policy, tourism policy and the like.