Minister who eats 60 meals a day

PSUs cost state exchequer Rs 6,300 crore in MP every year

NK SINGH

A public sector undertaking of Madhya Pradesh Government received a weird order from its minister incharge. The minister desired the government undertaking to supply 60 lunch packets everyday at his official residence. Since then the undertaking has engaged a local eatery for supply of sixty meals to the minister on a regular basis. The PSU officials are amazed at the voracious appetite of the minister and his staff.

The minister’s other demands were of routine nature. The minister and his personal staff requisitioned three vehicles from the undertaking to supplement the fleet they are officially entitled to. The same organisation also provides a handful of daily wagers for household chores.

Now comes the sting in the tail. The public undertaking in question is running into huge losses. The accumulated losses have wiped off its net worth. The central government body that governs its affairs has threatened to wind up its operation. But the undertaking continues to waste taxpayers money on serving its masters and their minions.

The Government controlled corporations, boards and undertakings are the icing on the cake for those in positions of power. If a minister needs a luxury vehicle that is not allowed under Government rules, he can be sure that the corporation created to serve Dalits will buy it for him. If the minister wants to stay with his family at a five star hotel, the board that was formed for fishermen will be too happy to pick up the tabs. He wants half a dozen household servants free of charge? No problem. Their salaries will be paid by that undertaking which is supposed to work for nomads’ upliftment.

Another political advantage of public undertaking is to create a ministry, outside the ministry. It creates jobs for the boys, and girls, who have missed ministerial berths. The government bestows upon them ministerial status, translating into a fat salary and other perks of power.

In the post-Nehruvian era, corporations, boards and PSUs are an anathema to the spirit of liberalisation. The government is committed to close public enterprises that are draining state exchequer.

However, at a time when the accepted policy is to disband or sell off existing PSUs that are proving a burden on state exchequer, MP is opening new state undertakings. Their number is increasing. While only a handful of public enterprises were wound up in the past, many more new ones were formed, increasing the overall tally to more than 100. In fact a close look at existing PSUs reveal that almost three dozen enterprises came into existence in post liberalisation era after 1995.

Some public enterprises seem to have been opened without proper application of mind, to satisfy the whims of powers that be. For example there is a corporation for development of livestock and poultry and there is a board for promotion of cows and poultry! There is a board for labour welfare and another for construction workers’ welfare. There is an Agency for seed certification, a Federation for seed producer and a third one for seed development! The unbridled growth of public undertakings, most of them running in heavy losses, bleed the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 6,300 crore every year.

The government is apparently in no hurry to reform or do proper housekeeping. Now one more government company has been added to the ever-growing list of PSUs – a Tourism Board “to streamline tourism sector, attract investment and implement tourism policy formulated last year.” MP already has a Tourism Development Corporation that is supposed to accomplish the same task. That corporation survives on government grants and costs the state exchequer almost Rs 50 crores every year. Now, they have created one more mouth to feed.

Ironically, MP had a tourism board till early 80s that was subsequently merged with the newly-formed corporation. Why do they need a board once again?

Any reform faces stiff resistance from people who have a vested interest in the present system. One glaring example is government purchase through Small a Industries Corporation, the official middleman. Everyone is aware that the system kills competition and inflates prices by one-fifth due to on the table and under the table commission.

The state government buys goods totalling almost 1,000 crore through SIC. According to a rough calculation, the government stands to save a minimum of Rs 200 crore every year if it directly purchases goods through the e-market portal floated by Narendra Modi Government in August last year.

The e-market is a great anti-corruption initiative. It lists about 45,000 companies that supply 2.84 lakh items. Despite government instructions, many departments continue to source their supplies through SIC due to obvious reasons. If this mentality continues, ministers with voracious appetite will continue to amaze all of us.

Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of Nov 27, 2017

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