Bangalore: Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie on January 24 indicated that the government has virtually discarded the Rs 12,000 crore target to be realised from disinvestment proceeds in the current financial year, saying lack of unanimity on the process is hurting the efforts.

"Court cases...state government saying one thing or the other...what is the point in having a target ?...I do not now regard any figure as a target," Shourie told reporters on the sidelines of an Open House on EXIM Policy.

"Unless everybody puts his shoulder to the same wheel, no target can be achieved," he asserted.

"If we pursue a target, you will say we are doing so just to bridge the fiscal deficit," he said in a retort to critics.

In response to a question, he said proceeds in the region of around Rs 3,500 crore had so far been realised from disinvestment in the current fiscal.

Shourie indicated that efforts are being made to hold a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment regarding the disinvestment of public sector oil companies HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd) and BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd) within the next 10 days.

"It depends on the convenience of the Prime Minister, as also Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and senior ministers Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha," he said.

Asked if "everything goes well, HPCL and BPCL will be disinvested", Shourie said he can't say. "In India anything can be tripped anytime," he said. There could be a PIL or strike, the minister commented.

Earlier, in his address at the function, jointly organised by the government of Karnataka and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, Shourie said there was no point in reviving public sector enterprises (PSEs) and then going in for disinvestment.

In the last 10 to 12 years, 35 revival packages had been introduced with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore and not even a single PSE has been able to revive itself, he said.

PTI