A Bill seeking to absolve the government of its responsibilities as a guarantor of the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) was passed by Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan ruling out any move to privatise the mini-ratna company.
The Warehousing Corporation (Amendment) Bill has a limited scope and was necessitated by a legal requirement which said the government will not be a guarantor for a "grade one" mini-ratna company like CWC, Paswan said.
He also allayed concerns of several opposition members, including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, over whether the government intended to disinvest its shares and noted that the bill was a "baby" of the UPA government which could not get it passed due to general elections in 2014.
"The question of privatisation does not arise... I am a grassroot person and as far as issues like privatisation or interests of farmers and workers are concerned, nobody needs to be worried...," he said replying to a debate on the bill.
Paswan said the grain storage capacity in the country was adequate but farmers at many places suffered due to lack of centres where they can sell their produce.
The legislation, he said, also aimed at giving the Corporation more financial independence as it would be free to spend up to Rs 500 crore without seeking government approval.
The bill was brought by previous UPA government in Lok Sabha and cleared by Parliamentary Standing Committee. However, it lapsed with the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha.
Intervening in the debate, Kharge had earlier said once the government stops being its guarantor, the CWC may lose the investors' trust and there were fears that it might become a private entity.
K V Thomas (Cong) said he was the Food minister when the UPA Cabinet had cleared the bill and the issues flagged by Kharge were deliberated upon that time too.
The Bill says the corporation was a profit-making body which has neither taken any loan from the government nor was it dependent on its budgetary support.
According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the bill, the government has also not given any guarantee besides the payment of minimum guaranteed dividend as required under some provisions of the Act.
Therefore, as the CWC can manage its financial affairs on its own, the bill seeks to withdraw the guarantee of the government and absolves it of its responsibility of being the guarantor, it says.
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