Bangalore: Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie would make a statement on oil sector disinvestment, a decision which was "stayed" for three months, on December 9, a top ministry official said on December 8.

"The minister would make a statement tomorrow," secretary in the Ministry of Disinvestment, Pradip Baijal, reacted when reporters asked him about the issue.

Baijal pointed out that there was an informal meeting last week of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment, where a consensus was reached.

It was noted that the decision to opt for a three-month pause in disinvestment had been taken when the CCD took the proposals for the strategic sale of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on September 7.

Disinvestment procceds so far in the current financial year is to the tune of around Rs 3,500 crore, he said, ruling out the possibility of meeting the Rs 12,000 crore target for 2002-03.

"If you have roadblocks and if you have three month stay for political debate, you can't reach that target," said Baijal, who earlier chaired a session on disinvestment at a round-table organised by the National Law School of India University.

However, he hastened to add, "In a Democracy, political debates are very important. I am not at all apologetic about political debate. The debate was very healthy."

He indicated that the government would go ahead with the controversial disinvestment of NALCO. "There is no decision to stop NALCO disinvestment".

PTI