The Hindu Business Line : TELK to remain in public sector

The Government had turned down an offer from Siemens to take a strategic stake in the company, the Industries Minister, Mr V.K. Ibrahim Kunju, told the State Assembly on Wednesday.

He said Siemens had asked for 76 per cent stake in TELK. Since the Government did not want to part with the control of the company, Siemens withdrew its offer.

In reply to a question, the Minister said that discussions would be held with BMW, the global car major, next month on its proposal to set up a unit in Kochi. The Government had identified 25 acres of land in HMT premises at Kalamassery for the purpose, he added.

The Minister said that the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) had signed a memorandum of understanding with Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) for setting up a Rs 7,000-crore petrochemicals complex in the State. Though no final decision had been taken, it was likely to come up in Kochi.

He said MoUs had been signed for 96 projects with a total investment potential of Rs 11,259 crore during the global investors meet held in Kochi in 2003. Out of these, permission had been given to 40 projects.

The Minister noted that since the United Democratic Front (UDF) Government came to power four years ago, KSIDC had promoted 17 new projects worth a total investment of Rs 101.16 crore. Of this, the share of KSIDC was Rs 32.45 crore.

He said the Monitoring Committee appointed by the Supreme Court had served closure notice on 198 industrial units in the State for not taking up pollution control measures. To avert the situation, the Industries Department had initiated steps to establish a common treatment, storage and disposal facility in Kochi with KSIDC as the nodal agency.

Besides, a company styled Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Ltd. had been registered and the industrial units wanting its services could become its shareholders. The State Government had approached the Centre for a grant of Rs 42.75 crore towards the company's capital of Rs 60 crore, the Minister said and added that steps had been initiated for acquiring 50 acres of land from FACT for the project.

The Transport Minister, Mr N. Sakthan, told the House that the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had given permission for construction of shopping complexes in five more bus stations in the State.

He said that KSRTC was able to bring down its loss from Rs 9.88 crore to Rs 7.73 crore a year after the UDF Government assumed office in 2001. The corporation's present accumulated loss was estimated at Rs 839.87 crore.

He said that the Government had provided a total of Rs 40.25 crore to KSRTC as compensation for the losses incurred by it by way of allowing concessions to students and free travel to physically disabled persons and freedom fighters.

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