New Delhi: Government's disinvestment policy on July 26 came in for sharp criticism from All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), which compared Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie's reported move to sell stake in blue chip public sector undertakings (PSUs) to a "Nawab selling family silver".

"Selling the family silver by the ruling Nawab Arun Shourie is reaching its peak with the proposal of raising Rs 51,300 crore by sale of stake in BSNL, ONGC, IOC, NTPC and GAIL, the five blue chip, highly profit making PSUs, and through strategic sale in eight other PSUs," AITUC said in a statement.

It termed as misleading the government's policy statement that "the disinvestment was meant for realising the amount of scarce public resources locked up in non- strategic PSUs for deployment in areas much higher on social and essential infrastructure."

"While most of the proceeds of disinvestment had gone to meet the revenue deficit, now the profit making and strategic PSUs are being divested together. The move of government will fade these jewels in the long run," AITUC said.

Ridiculing disinvestment department's reasoning that sale of government equity was to reduce public debt, AITUC said, "The facts are that the fiscal deficit has increased as a result of sale of equity, because the equity of the most profitable enterprises was sold, as a result of which the dividend forgone is more than the interest on capital accrued by the sale."

PTI