PSU revamp board chief Basu quits

Prahlad K Basu, chairman of the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE), resigned today following differences with the government over reforming the state-run companies.

Basu faxed his resignation to Minister of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises Santosh Mohan Deb, and a copy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Basu expressed his "deep disappointment with the stance on public enterprise reforms" that the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has taken under Deb's "leadership".

BRPSE was constituted by the UPA government in line with the National Common Minimum Programme for reforming and restructuring the PSUs. Basu said the board managed to turn around 51 state units over the past three years. However, the "DPE seems to be pursuing a much narrower agenda in which governance reform of PSUs do not figure, and closure is seen as the only solution for loss-making PSUs. Herein lies the fundamental difference between us and one that we cannot resolve given the set of incentives that appeal to be motivating DPE's stance on PSU reform," he said.

Basu said he received no support from the board's secretary whom he wanted to change and who was supported by the government. Moreover, the government wanted to induct a former Trinamool Congress politician as a member of the board.

"DPE's unwillingness to support BRPSE in delivering its mandate has made it almost impossible for me to carry out my job," he said.