Question : Sale of Assets

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:
(a) Whether Government proposes to sell assets and lands of the sick and closed PSUs;

(b) if so, the details of assets and lands of closed Central PSUs thereof;

(c) Whether the Government has received any proposal under PPP mode to sell or lease out the said lands and assets;

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the initiatives taken by the Government in this
regard; and

(e) the steps taken so far by the Government to pay the dues of the State Government borne towards maintenance and other expenses till date?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE INDEPENDENT CHARGE FOR MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)


(a)& (b): So far as Department of Fertilizers is concerned, Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (FACT) and Madras Fertilizers Ltd. (MFL) are loss making companies but not a closed Central PSUs. As a part of financial restructuring, FACT sought approval for sale/leveraging of 651.479 acres of land held by the Company. Out of which 481.790 acres of land for transfer to Government of Kerala and remaining 169.689 acres of land for transfer to BPCL-Kochi Refinery. MFL has also earmarked 70 acres land for monetization to CPCL.

Regarding Department of Pharmaceuticals, the Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 28.12.2016 has decided to close two Pharmaceuticals companies, namely, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (IDPL) and Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (RDPL) and strategically sell Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BCPL) and Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. (HAL) after meeting their liabilities from sale of their surplus land. The land details of PSUs under closure are as under:-

• IDPL:- Hyderabad (890.34 acres), Rishikesh (834 acres) and Gurgaon (89.79 acres)
• RDPL:- 9.35 acres at Jaipur

The surplus land of PSUs under Strategic sale are as under:-
• HAL:- 87.71 acres at Pune
• BCPL:- 25.01 acres at Kolkata

The complete valuation other assets of the PSUs has not yet been done.

Regarding Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, as on date, Government / CCEA approved restructuring plan of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL). As per this restructuring plan, all plant operations at Rasayani unit of HOCL has been closed down except N204 plant which has been transferred to the Department of Space / ISRO. The restructuring plan inter alia includes sale of 442 acres land at Rasayani to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BCPL) and disposal of other encumbrance free land and assets (except land & assets associated with N204 plant to be transferred to ISRO) of Rasayani Unit in accordance with DPE guidelines.

Details of land and other assets of Rasayani Unit of HOCL are as follows:

i. Land (with 7/12 extracts in HOCL’s name) in various parcels and of different use at Rasayani, Panvel and Khargar totalling approx. 1005 acres.
ii. Plant, machinery and buildings
iii. Nestle Flats, Mumbai
iv. Office premises at Baroda

(c) - No, Madam.

(d) - Does not arise.

(e) The Government has decided to first meet all the liabilities of these companies before their closure/strategic sale. The restructuring plan of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) has provision for payment of company’s outstanding dues towards local taxes, electricity and water charges, etc. to the authorities concerned under the state Govt. of Maharashtra. The company has made the following payments to the Govt. of Maharashtra towards outstanding dues of the Rasayani Unit:

i. Rs. 0.77 crore for Non Agricultural Land Taxes for the years 2016-17 and 2017-18.
ii. Rs. 9.36 crore for electricity dues for the year 2017-18.
iii. Rs. 2.15 crore for water dues for 2017-18.


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