Family silver. Centre says asset monetisation won’t impact workers, but unions sceptical on no discussion

The Centre on Thursday sought to reassure workers that the asset monetisation plan, especially in labour-intensive sectors such as mines and railways, will not impact them because the government will continue to be the employer.

But the unions remained sceptical of this government’s claim in the light of the fact that there has been no consultation or dialogue with them and the entire process of working out concession agreements in different sectors remains shrouded in secrecy.

Highly-placed Finance Ministry sources told BusinessLine that public assets in different sectors are only being leased out and, as such, the government retains ownership and control with regard to the workforce.

“Where is the question of employment security being endangered when the assets are only being leased out. The government retains ownership rights as the lessor,” said the sources.

However, the unions point out that since the lessees in respective contracts for different assets will operate mines, railways, roads, etc., the fate of the workers will depend on the kind of contracts that are drawn up. The Finance Ministry holds that concession agreements for different sectors are in different stages of being worked out. “Some have been finalised and others are being worked out,” said sources.

Unions’ concern

Given the variety of the sectors being monetised, different models already in existence such as the InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) model in the case of Power Grid Corporation of India or the Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) adopted by the National Highways Authority of India or the PPP model will be employed. The workers’ unions point out that all these models have been tried and failed to generate expected revenue, while simultaneously resulting in job losses. According to Centre of Indian Trade Unions general secretary Tapan Sen, this method of privatisation results not just in job losses but also de-valuation of assets created over decades with public spending.

“Employment and the number of workers have gone down in the last 10 years in all major ports – Chennai, Mumbai, Tuticorin, Vizag. What is the revenue generation here? The fact is that once the lessee, which is a private entity, is in control of operation, he controls the employment terms, too. The government is not being truthful. And before embarking on this massive exercise, have the people been given an estimate of what they have earned in the past years when assets created by their money have been privatised? Why haven’t any of the stakeholders been consulted?” Sen said.

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