“We have no choice but to manage them”, A top ranking PSU Executive said, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the Government of India are grappling with bureaucratic red tape involving complex and mind boggling Standing Committees, Consultative Committees, Parliamentary Committees, Task Forces etc.
These are not only a drain on resources but are also mostly non productive. There are unwritten internal directives to all PSUs to strictly adhere to niceties and full fill all demands put forth.
A Top Ranking Executive from a PSU expressed his concern and helplessness stating, “Whichever is the committee or our superiors, the directives we receive are all similarly convoluted. Being in this job, we have no choice but to manage them.”
This statement highlights the pervasive bureaucratic strangle hold that impede decision-making processes within PSUs. In an effort to mitigate such issues and ease doing business in India, the government introduced initiatives like the National Single Window System (NSWS), a digital platform designed to streamline approvals and enhance transparency. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has emphasized the importance of industry feedback for the NSWS, urging stakeholders to engage with the system to ensure its effectiveness. However there are many who are out to dent its effectivity.
Despite all efforts, ground-level officials continue to be confronted with multiple layers of approvals and intricate procedures that hinder operational efficiency.Experts suggest that further structural reforms are necessary to simplify and expedite decision-making processes within public enterprises. As it is, the flavour of the season, for some time, has been privatization. There is almost an inverse discrimination against PSUs. Burdened with Parliament Scrutiny, Vigilance,CBI,RTI etc. PSUs have to spend more time doing paperwork than actual business.
Lately, on top of all this, timely appointment of leaders in PSUs is not taking place. Most appointments are mired in controversy. Consequently the morale of the work force in PSUs has gone down drastically. There are also leaders who are close to Politicians and Bureaucracy who treat PSUs as their fiefdoms. One even had called for as many as three farewells on retirement, with specific instructions to top level leadership of the organization to attend and sing praises for him. Well all this is fine, but when it’s done on company expenses it does jar a bit.
In the Oil & Gas Sector, regular extravaganzas are held. Since it’s profit making and cash rich it gets away with it. Such jambooris become opportunities for grandiose expositions for organization leaders and bureaucrats to shine their images at the expense of the PSUs. Most utterences appear too good to be true and majority of Proposals & MOUs do not see the light of day. It’s quite possible that the highest of the political brass is actually unaware of what’s going on. Information sharing upwards is so scant. It’s high time that a thorough scrutiny of the goings on in Oil PSUs is done. Everyone knows how economically sensitive and strategic the Oil & Gas Sector is.
