Fifth Series VoL LYUI-No. 5. Friday, Match t2 ,1976 Pbalguna 22, 1897(Saka) LOK SABHA DEBATES (Sixteenth Session) jpraa nm (Fb/. LV1I I contains Nos. 1 — j o ) LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI Price : Rs. 2.00 CONTENTS No. 5, Friday, March 12, i<yjSjphalguna 22,1897 (&*&*) Oral Answers to Questions: COLOMKS ♦Starred Questions Nos. 81, 82,98 and 83 to 88 , 1—32 Written Answers to Questions : Starred Questions Nos. 89 to 97, 99 and 100 , 32—41 Unstarred Questions Nos. 444 to 489,491 to 549,551,552 and 554 to 566 ..........................................................................41—142 Papers laid on the Table ....................................................... M3 *44 Messages from Rajya Sabha .............................................. 145 Bills as passed by Rajya S a b h a ........................................................ 145 Business of the House . ' ....................................... 146 Joint Committee on Offices of Profit— Recommendation to Rajya Sabha to elect a Member . 146-47 Supplementary Demands for Grants (General), 1975-76 . 147—60 Shrimati Sushila Rohatgi .....................................147—52 Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 1976—Introduced— Motion to consider— Shrimati Sushila Rohatgi 161 Clauses 2, 3 and 1 161 Motion to pass— Shrimati Sushila Rohatgi . 162 Railway Budget, 1976-77 —General Discussion— Shri Samar Mukherjee . 162—78 Prof. Narain Chand Parashar . 178 86 Shrimati Parvathi Krishnan . 186—98 Shri S. A. Kader 198—206 Shri Bhagwat Jha Azad . 206 14 •The sign + marked above the name of a member indicates that the Question was actually asked on the floor of House by that Member. oo C o l u m n s Constitution (Amendment) Bill . * , , _ 214—270 {Amendment o/JPart III) by Shri Bhogexira Jha * Motion to consider— Shri Bhogendra Jha 214—25 Shri Dasaratha Deb ....................................226—31 Shri B. R. Shukla ...................................................... 231—34 Shri H. N. Mukerjee .... , 234—38 ShriM. C. Daga ............................................. 238-^50 Shri Biren Dutta . 2^0 ^ Shri Nimbalkar . 251—59 Shri Sat Pal Kapur .... 259—69 Shri P. M. Mehta . 269—70 LOK SABHA DEBATES x 2 LOK SABHA given by the STC and fn m their own STC lice ices get items at a cheaper rate How rould it happei7 There- Friday, March 12, 1976/Phalguna 22, fore with your permission I would 1807 (SaJra) like to put this specific question by giving one or two examples I would like to know whether it is The Lok Sabha met at E t en of the not a fact that the STC has imported Clock a canalised item namely L Aminodiol at as high a price as Rs 293 per Kg while M /s Suneeta Laboratories im- [Mr Spfaker ir he "'hatr] ported it at a price of Ps 232 50 p*r Kg vide LC No 75 *>06/61 dated ORAL ANSWARS TO QLFSTIONS 20 11 75 and Mac la b ra*ones at Rs 260 per Kg almost dunng the same Import of Articles by S T C period Similarly I can give second example *81 SHRI P M MFHTA Will the Minister of COMMERCE be pleased MR SPEAKER Please don t give to stdte more examples One is erxtgh (a) whether State Trading Corpo- SHRI P M FJEHTA I will give the ration has been importing various name only canalised articles at higher rates than those paid by the business concerns MR SPEAKER On a question like importing directly and this you should not bring m individual items The hon Minister may not (b) if so, what action Government ha\e information propose to take to remove this lacuna7 THE DEPUTY MINISTER IN THE SHRI P M MEHTA I ser»k your protection MINISTRY OF COMMERCE (SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP SINGH) (a) In the beginning I said that the and (b) Purchases of t. nunodittes are answer given by the Minister is not generally made m bulk bv the State only evasive but misVadmg There- Trading Corporation asutirst global fore kindly allow me to name ose enquiries and therefoie the prices pa)d item more I won’t go into the details by them are competitive It is regarding the purpose of Ampicil- lrn Anhydrous which has caused a l>ss SHRI P M MEHTA Sir, the of precious foreign exchange of the answer given by the hen Minister is order of Rs 1 crore Therefore, I not only evasive but also misleading to want to know what action Government the House The whole purpose of will take regarding the purchase of having the system of canalisation 1s these two items and others at the to get the imported items compara- higher rate vis-a-vis the rate at which tively at a cheaper rate But what has the same item was put chased during ^appended 2s that some private parties the same period by a ppivate party on on the strength of the authority letter the strength of an authonty letter 2753 LS—2 3 Oral Answers MARCH 12, 1976 Oral Answers SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP SINGH: I wil put forward the precau- SINGH: Sir, we have no information tions that we take to see that the pur- of any bungling. chases made by the STC are at correct prices. The bulk purchases made by DR. RANEN SEN; There has beer; STC are made against global enqui- a constant complaint agains; the STC ries and tenders... that they are chirgi'ig more f.-r im- porting certain drugs, brth inter medi- MR. SPEAKER; There are so many ates and final formulations. This has repetitions, and 1 don't want that. He been the charge against the STC and asked a specific question and you can the charge was substantiated seme say whether it is a fact or not. He time later because the drug Indo- asked about two items that the STC methacyne which is availably outside purchased at a higher price while a at Rs. 400 per ki'o is sold by the STC private sector party purchased the at Rs. 800 per kr*o. So n:v quesiion is, same item at a lesser price. If you in view of the fact that ce^.ain multi- have no information you can say sc. national companies in the drug sector want to import basic raw materials SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP and intermediates and final formula- SINGH: I will find out about thin. tions from iheir parent bnu5.es at a higher price and are quoting the figures SHRI P. M. MEHTA : I would like of the STC in order to denigrat* the to know whether the Hon. Minister is STC and the Government of W ’a’s aware that the STC has been spending policy of canalisation, what steps is the excess foreign exchange to the tune of Government going to take in regard to Rs. 5 crores Per annum on the D&P these things? Division on Rs. 30 crore worth imports of 32 canalised drugs which are SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP purchased by STC at far higher prices SINGH: I want to dispel the impression than the prevailing international rates that the STC imports are ut a higher and this is being done with the con- price. I shall explain this a little. nivance of high officials of the D&P After the STC imports an item, sales- Division of the STC who are responsi- tax and godown charges are added to ble to have created... the cost of the imported item. Certain firms which can import directly or MR. SPEAKER; Are you reading? make purchases on high seas do not Please don't r^ad the ciupslior. If vou have to pay sales-tax or godown char- read long questions, the Minister gets ges and are able to take advantage of confused and the answers are not this differential and compared to pur- forthcoming. So please ask specific chases made by these parties it can be and brief questions and I will ensure projected that the charges which are the answers. If you read qustions, I added by the STC are charges which will not be able conduct this Ques- unnecessarily raise the price. Last tion Hour properly. year in drugs and chemicals, there was price fluctuation in the international ■ SHRI P. M. MEHTA • Mr. Speaker, market; purchases by STC hud been the Question is of .< technical n*uare made at a certain time and after that, and therefore, I am referring to techni- the prices slumped down and people cal terms and ofher relevant matters. I don't read except when it is absolu- purchased at lower prices later: this tely necessary for me to do so for put- also gave rise to the impression that ting the question properly. the prices paid by the STC were high- er. In fact, the precautions that we Now, I want Ao.know what action the take are very wide: The STC has Government proposes to take against Specific Commodity Advisory Com- the officials who have bungled In the mittee in which the end-users are there matter. and the STC representatives are also Oral Answers PHALGUNA 22, 1887 (SAKA) Oral Answers 6 there, and they advise on prices of country and difficulties to the public various items. Against specific order and the industry^ made by the end-users, the STC takes the advice ol the end-i^sers .or the SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP price before making the order SINGH The STC is under no such pressure DR RANEN SEN I have put a spe Cifie question whether complaints have Come and if so, what steps are being HUE. QUESTIONS 82 AND 98 taken, MR SPEAKER Mr Madhukar. SHRI VISHWANATH PRATAP SHRI DINEIN BHATTACHARYYA: SINGH I have mentioned tt*e steps Sir, Question 98 also relates to the ]ute that we have taken.