Disinvestment put on hold, admits PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday admitted that disinvestment had been put on hold for sometime.

"It is true that we had to put disinvestment on hold because of some resistance from within the United Progressive Alliance," he confessed at a joint press conference with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the end of the conclave of chief ministers of 14 Congress ruled states.

Reiterating his concern about suicides by distressed farmers in certain states, Dr Singh said that the impact of steps taken to prevent such tragedies in future would be visible only after some time.

"The issue of farmers' suicides in figured high on our agenda here; we have already announced a package for Vidharbha farmers, while steps were underway for other affected states," he said.

The prime minister said: "We were taking certain short-term and long-term measures, but the full impact of these measures will be visible only over a period of time."

Asked if the two-day conclave would help in resolving the problems of farmers, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said: "We all know that these problems have accumulated over so many years, particularly during the National Democratic Alliance regime when farmers remained a neglected lot."

She pleaded, "Obviously, it will take some time for the situation to improve to the level we would like it to come."

Promptly dismissing a remark about the working of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, she said: "The agriculture minister is working in a very effective manner and is surely concerned about the interest of farmers."

Asked to comment on her Saturday's remarks against use of agriculture land for non-agri purposes, that was being construed as her stand against creation of Special Economic Zones across the country, she sought to point out that she was misunderstood.

"No way are we saying that this should not continue; no one said so not carry on with SEZs, but one should be a bit cautious about giving away prime agricultural land for industrial use," Sonia asserted.

"All that I wanted to convey was that wherever SEZs are created, caution must be observed to take into account the long-term effects on such people whose land was being acquired," she added.