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News Desk: Terming the center’s National Monetisation Pipeline as ‘shocking and unfortunate decision”, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that the center wants to sell national assets and the money raised from it will be used during elections against the opposition parties.
She said “We condemn this shocking and unfortunate decision. These assets belong to the country. It is the property of neither Modi nor the BJP. They can’t just sell a country’s assets as per their whims and fancies”
“The entire country will stand together and oppose this anti-people decision. The BJP should be ashamed. No one has given them the right to sell our nation’s assets” she added.
Center’s National Monetisation Policy
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced National Monetisation Pipeline plan, which worths Rs 6 lakh crore, to monetize government’s existing asset base and use the proceeds to boost infrastructure and it will only include brownfield assets owned by the government, not the land assets.
Sitharaman said “The contractual partnerships which the Govt will enter, in executing the monetisation pipeline, will be with full KPIs and performance indicators. This will ultimately help in unlocking resources for the economy”
Under this plan, the pipeline of government assets covers about 14% of Centre’s outlay. It also covers over 20 asset classes and 12 line ministries.
- Government will remain the owner of the brownfield assets: There will be a mandatory handback of assets after the stipulated time. All assets will be de-risked. Finance Minister said “This will unlock resources for the economy, which is what we want”
- States will be incentivised by Center to monetise their assets: Under this (i) Incentives to be given as 50-year interest-free loans (ii) Upto Rs 5,000 crore already budgeted in the current year (iii) If the states divest a PSU, they will receive 100% as financial assistance (iv) If they monetize the asset, they will receive 33% of that amount (v) If states list a public company in the stock markets, the government will be give them 50% of that amount.
- Priority sectors will be roads, railways and power: Under this (i) Rs 1.6 lakh crore worth national highways of NHAI (ii) Rs 67,000 crore worth transmission lines from Power Grid (iii) Rs 32,000 crore worth Hydro, Solar, and Wind projects from NHPC, NTPC, and Neyveli Lignite (iv) 400 stations, about 150 trains, tracks and woodshed worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
