The Hindu Business Line : Disinvestment Dept `divested' of full-time Secretary

ONLY last year, it was the most happening Ministry, headed by the most high profile of Ministers and bureaucrats and also the most sought after reporting beat.

Now it has been reduced to a mere Department that no one apparently wants to head. And neither does it attract the horde of hacks, assured of an `exclusive' on a daily basis.

Well, the latest development in the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) is that it no longer has a full-time Secretary, just as it has no full-time Minister. Mr R. Poornalingam, who was till recently the Secretary in the Department, has taken over as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, with effect from December 8.

With the departure of Mr Poornalingam, it is the Secretary, Financial Sector, Mr N.S. Sisodia, who will now hold additional charge as Secretary, DoD. And with Mr Sisodia due for superannuation by end-January, it remains to be seen who would take over after him.

This, for a Department, that, till the present United Progressive Alliance Government assumed office in May, was an independent Ministry under Mr Arun Shourie and Mr Pradip Baijal (who was Secretary up to February 2003).

It was during their tenure that full-fledged privatisation gained currency over piece-meal disinvestment, with a number of public sector undertakings, from Bharat Aluminium to VSNL, IPCL, CMC, Hindustan Zinc, Modern Foods and Hindustan Teleprinters, being put on the block.

Since then, the wheel has turned full circle.

The Ministry that was once reviled for allegedly transgressing into the domain of other Ministries, is now seen as an inconsequential Department under the Finance Ministry.And there are few voices left in the Government even talking of privatisation or `strategic sale'. Significantly, all this has taken place quietly.The BSE Sensex, which shed almost 900 points between May 13 and May 17 (when statements about `winding up' the Disinvestment Ministry were made), scaled a new high today, closing at 6,420.38.

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