Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday directed all the government-run corporations to bring in reforms to increase revenue through various initiatives and centrally sponsored schemes.

The corporations were also asked to stop from carrying out unnecessary recruitments for their offices.

The directions from Sawant came at a pre-budget meeting, which he chaired at the assembly complex.

The meeting, which was attended by chairmen and managing directors of all the corporations, took a detailed review of these public sector undertakings.

Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, the Chief Minister informed that the functioning of the corporations was thoroughly reviewed.

Several suggestions were made on measures that could be adopted to bring in reforms to turn the corporations around.

He said that except for a few like the Economic Development Corporation and the Goa Human Resource Development Corporation, most of them are not doing well.

The sickness of these corporations has prompted the government to contemplate shutting them down.

“There is a chance to turn these corporations around. They can become self-sufficient if they work seriously. Many corporations are not even submitting utilisation certificates of funds. I have made a suggestion on working out modalities for generating additional revenue,” he explained.

Stating that unnecessary staff were recruited by many corporations in the past, Sawant said that he has directed them to stop such recruitments.

“I have also suggested that they should take grants from the central government,” he added.

The Chief Minister further said that some of these corporations give loans to people for self-employment, construction of houses etc. But they do not make any effort to recover the loan amounts.

“We have given them a roadmap on how the corporations can be made self-sufficient. If they work towards it, many of them will start clocking profits.

There are over 35 corporations or agencies run by the government.