Dismal Corporate Social Responsibility activities of PSUs worry House panel

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Departmentally Related Standing (DRS) Committee of the Assam Legislative Assembly has observed 'with a serious note' that the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities of the PSUs (Public Sector Units) and the private sector industries in the state are 'very dismal'.

The House Committee has asked the PSUs and private sector industries to submit details of their locations, schemes and fund spent on each scheme in the past five financial years within six months.

In its recent report to the Assembly, the House committee said, "PSUs and private sector industries such as OIL, ONGC, IOC, NRL, IOCL (BGR), Coal India Ltd etc., with their production units in the state are not spending the mandatory 2 per cent of their annual profit for gainful purpose. "The CSR activities undertaken are mainly concentrated in the nearby areas of the PSUs and the private sector industries, instead of evenly distributing the CSR fund all over the state.

"The PSUs and the private sector industries with their production units outside the state are hardly spending any amount of CSR fund in the state, although the state is lagging far behind in respect of development indices and SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)."

The committee, after careful consideration of the whole gamut of CSR fund, recommends that –

(a) The PSUs and the private sector industries with their production units outside the state shall spend at least 5 per cent of their CSR fund in Assam in view of the state is very backward.

(b) The PSUs and the private sector industries with their production units within the state shall mandatorily spend 2 per cent of their annual profit for CSR activities and shall evenly distribute their CSR fund all over the state instead of concentrating only a few nearby districts.

(c) Each district should have a district-level committee with the DC as chairman and all MLAs/MPs as members for the selection and proper monitoring of the schemes under the CSR fund.

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