Anakapalle MP M. Srinivasa Rao has urged the government to defer the decision on strategic offloading of 100 per cent equity of the Union government in Dredging Corporation of India. It should be strengthened by paying dues from public sector companies, he said. Making a zero hour mention in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, he said financial condition of the DCI was affected owing to non-payment of ₹ 300 crore invested by it in the Sethu Samudram project. Though a high-power committee recommended the refund nine years ago it had not been done so far, the MP said.
The dues from Kandla, Kolkata, Goa and Cochin ports were also not settled affecting the cash flow to DCI, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said.
The proposal to set up Dredging Training Institute by DCI at Antarvedi in East Godavari district to train unemployed youth would hit a road block if the government’s take was offloaded, he said.
He said to increase its presence abroad, DCI had already signed an MoU for collaboration in Bahrain. Employees were apprehensive that the move (to offload the stake) would help private and foreign players and their dream of turning the profit-making DCI a Navratna company by 2020 would not materialise, he said.
