Posted on December 27, 2017
By Andhra Pradesh, The Hindu
Faced with severe criticism from the Opposition parties as well as a section of Telugu Desam Party, which is a part of the BJP-led NDA government at Centre, a fresh talk is doing rounds that there is still a possibility of putting on hold the Union Cabinet’s decision for total disinvestment of Dredging Corporation of India (DCI).
The process of disinvestment has commenced with the government constituting Inter-Ministerial Group and Request for Proposal (RFP) notification issued for engaging a reputed valuer to assess the assets of the schedule-I mini ratna company.
Going by the groundswell of support against its disinvestment and the fallout of privatisation in the elections due in 2019, the employees say there is still a hope that the government may not privatise it hastily.
“The ongoing agitation could either swing the situation in our favour by convincing the government to go slow on its decision or as a prestige issue, the BJP-led government may bulldoze all the opposition to the proposal,” a senior official of the company told The Hindu on condition of anonymity. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Anakapalle MP Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, MLC and former MP M.V.V.S. Murthi, Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan and YSR Congress Party MP V. Vijaya Sai Reddy have promised to take up the issue with Central Government.
New twist
The privatisation issue took a new twist with one of the employees committing suicide following which the management and the State government gave an ex gratia of Rs. 5 lakh each.
The DCI listed on BSE, NSE and CSE has been earning profit since it became a wholly owned Government of India enterprise in the year 1976. The employees contend that the non-release of Rs. 167 crore and the interest thereof, which was invested by DCI in non-starter Sethusamudram project, and the withdrawal of the decision to award contracts on nomination basis by Kolkata-Haldia and other major ports were the reasons for the financial ill-health of the company. “Just to realise a target of Rs. 72,500 crore in current fiscal from stake sale in PSUs, the government cannot hand over DCI to others for peanuts,” DCI Non-Executive Employees’ Union honorary president V.S. Padmanabha Raju said.
Source: THE HINDU
