Govt grants Rs 77.25 cr to clear PSU arrears

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to sanction Rs 77.25 crore to liquidate wage and other arrears of employees of 13 public sector enterprises under the Department of Heavy Industries.

"It would mitigate the hardships of the employees thereby motivating them for better output and prepare them to achieve the goal of revival for the companies," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told newspersons after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs.

The decision of the CCEA to provide Rs 77.25 crore would settle wages and other dues accumulated till March this year.

This is the for the fourth time that the UPA government has provided grant to sick companies under the Department of Heavy Industries to pay the dues of employees.

However, due to the efforts of the government at revival of sick companies, the number of companies availing of these grants is coming down every year.

The move will benefit employees of Andrew Yule, Bharat Opthalmic, Bharat Wagon, Hindustan Cables, three subsidiaries of HMT, Hindustan Photo Films, National Instruments, NEPA, Instrumentation Ltd, Triveni Structurals and Tungbhadra Steel products.