Lalu rules out privatisation of Kapurthala coach factory

New Delhi, May 5 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today strongly allayed the apprehension among the employees of the Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory about its privatisation, saying he had already taken a decision not to privatise it.

''Only yesterday, I held a meeting with the Railway Board Chairman and put my signature on the papers against the privatisation of the Kapurthala coach factory,'' he told a two-day annual meeting of the Railway Gneeral Managers, which got under way here this morning.

Mr Prasad also firmly declared that no Railway Ministry undertaking, including the Kapurthala coach factory, would be put into private hands.

In his budget speech, the Railway Minister had announced that the Kapurthala unit would be corporatised, triggering fear of its impending privatisation.

'Any step with regrad to the privatisation of a Railway Ministry enterprise will be based on a consensus,'' he said, adding that the process would be a transparent one.

UNI SKS/NAZ SC VV1625