No previous state government has been able to deal with the contentious issue of the merger of loss-making public sector undertakings (PSUs).
It has been learnt that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was keen to take the call on this long-pending issue and merge some of the PSUs in the red but could not do so owing to resistance from employees.
The issue assumes significance in view of the poor fiscal health of the state. The debt burden has touched Rs 90,000 crore.
Despite the best efforts of successive state governments, 13 of the 23 boards and corporations continue to be in the red. These government institutions having about 30,000 employees have cumulative losses of Rs 5,134.46 crore till March 31, 2023.
The efforts to merge some of these sick units have not been successful primarily due to resistance from the employees though they will be absorbed in other PSUs or government departments.
The government had decided to merge Agro Industries Corporation with the HPMC but was yet to implement the decision.
These 23 PSUs had suffered Rs 254.36 crore total losses between March 2022 and March 23. The cumulative losses were Rs 534.03 crore in March 2022 and Rs 589.53 crore in March 2021.
A majority of these PSUs remain a major drain on the state exchequer mainly due to a huge contingent of 32,028 employees.
The financial health of most of these PSUs remains grim. The 23 PSUs have a total of 32,028 employees, with maximum 15,123 workers in HP State Electricity Board Ltd, followed by 11,085 in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), 1,760 in the HP Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) and 1,078 in the HP Forest Corporation.
The HRTC has suffered the highest losses of Rs 1,966.13 crore, followed by the HPSEB (Rs 1,823.97 crore), HP Power Corporation (Rs 689.23 crore), HP Transmission Corporation (Rs 372.59 crore), HP Financial Corporation (Rs 184.83 crore), HPTDC (Rs 126.62 crore) and the HP Forest Corporation (Rs 98.21 crore). It remains to be seen whether Sukhu will succeed in merging some of these loss-making PSUs in the interest of the state.