Eleven public sector undertakings (PSUs) in Himachal Pradesh continued to be a drain on the funds-starved Government with their cumulative losses standing at Rs3,021.04 crore till March 31, 2014, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said on Thursday. The written reply filed in the ongoing budget session said 11 out of the 22 PSUs were in the red. The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board, the State’s largest undertaking with over 25,000 employees, tops the list of loss-making PSUs with a cumulative loss of Rs1,813.23 crore.
The Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, with a fleet of over 2,000 buses, has recorded cumulative losses of Rs847.66 crore. Surprisingly, the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corp, which claimed that the annual tourist arrivals in the State were over 1.6 crore last year, has cumulative losses of Rs23.34 crore. The Himachal Pradesh Horticultural Produce Marketing and Processing Corp (HPMC), which mainly markets apple juice concentrate, has incurred losses of Rs70.42 crore, while the State forest corporation and State Handloom and Handicraft Corporation suffered losses of Rs48.65 crore and Rs17.55 crore respectively.
During his Budget speech on March 18, the Chief Minister said out of every Rs100 spent, salaries will account for Rs29.23, pensions for Rs14.26, interest payments for Rs10.41, loan repayments for Rs5.30 and the remaining Rs40.80 will be spent on developmental works. The Assembly on March 31 passed the general Budget for 2015-16 and the related appropriation bill, authorising the Government to spend Rs30,185.77 crore from the consolidated fund.