Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday inaugurated the renovated KEL Electrical Machines Limited at Kasaragod, which the State government bought back from the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited after the Union government had planned to privatise it.
The government has spent ₹77 crore after the takeover, including ₹43 crore for renovation and ₹34 crore to service the debts, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said the Union government had not yet responded positively to the State's demand for handing over control of the HLL Lifecare Limited, instead of privatising it.
"Currently, there is a tendency to sell off all public sector units in the country. But the State government does not agree with this. Whenever the Union government has decided to sell off PSUs in Kerala, we have taken a stand that the State government should be given control of the same instead of privatising them, as these companies function on land that was taken over by the State and handed over for their purposes. But the Union government has been reluctant to hand over control to us, especially in the case of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport and the HLL," he said.
He said the State government had taken a stand that public sector undertakings (PSUs) had to be protected in the public sector and steps had to be taken to make them achieve greater heights. The recent State Budget itself is an example of this commitment, with a five-point programme for the revival of the PSUs in the State. The State government has taken over the Hindustan Newsprint Limited at Velloor in Kottayam and Instrumentation Limited in Palakkad, he said.
KEL, which has been functioning since 1990, was taken over by BHEL in 2010 with 51% shareholding and the rest with the State government. The company used to manufacture a range of products including power car alternators and train lighting alternators. Mr. Vijayan said the arrangement with BHEL was initiated with the aim of diversifying the product range and improving its performance. However, this did not work out as expected.
