Cabinet provides Rs 330 cr for unpaid employees of three pharma PSUs

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved budgetary support of Rs 330.35 crore as loan for meeting liabilities of about 1,000 employees of three public sector pharmaceutical companies.

It also allowed the sale of land belonging to these companies according to the revised guidelines of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPEs).

According to an official statement, the budgetary support of Rs 330.35 crore will help in disbursing unpaid salaries and providing support for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) of employees of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL), Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (RDPL) and Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL).

Of this amount, Rs 158.35 crore will be used for disbursing unpaid salaries and Rs 172 crore for VRS scheme. HAL will get Rs 280.15 crore, RDPL Rs 43.7 crore and IDPL Rs 6.5 crore.

 

"The decision will mitigate sufferings of more than 1,000 employees of these PSUs and setting up of a committee of ministers will expedite in process of implementation of the earlier Cabinet decision on December 28, 2016 for the closure of IDPL and RDPL and strategic sale of HAL and BCPL," added the statement.

The Cabinet had earlier decided to sell surplus land of HAL, IDPL, RDPL and Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BCPL) through open competitive bidding to government agencies and clear the outstanding liabilities from the sale proceeds.

It was decided that after meeting the liabilities, IDPL and RDPL will be closed while HAL and BCPL will be put up for strategic sale. The DPEs made efforts to sell surplus land but could not find buyers despite issuing tenders more than once.

Meanwhile, the DPEs issued revised guidelines on June 14, 2018, for disposal of land belonging to PSUs. As funds could not be generated through the sale of surplus land, the employees of HAL and RDPL could not be paid salaries and a VRS scheme was floated.

As such, it was decided to dispose of the land according to revised DPE's guidelines and seek up-front budgetary support for meeting employees' liabilities, the statement said.