The employees of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) on Tuesday condemned the statements of Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh L Mandaviya to go ahead with disinvestment of the public sector by rejecting their repeated pleas.
Mr. Gadkari informed Araku MP K. Geetha that on the recommendation of NITI Aayog, the government had taken a decision on 100% disinvestment of the DCI, whose headquarters is in Visakhapatnam.
Mr. Mandaviya, in a statement in Rajya Sabha on Monday, stated that the government had decided to sell its entire public stake in the DCI.
“This decision aims at upgrading technology, improving capability, infusing capital to buy necessary dredgers/equipment, and instilling experienced professional management to optimise operations of the DCI,” the Minister said.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had already obtained the approval of the government to disinvest 100% Government of India equity in the DCI in one go, through a two-stage auction process, with the advice of the transaction adviser. Decrying the statements rejecting their pleas, DCI Officers’ Association president B. Hanuman Naik said despite the government’s keenness to disinvest, they would intensify the agitation to drum up public support to stop the strategic sale.
‘No justification’
DCI Non-Executive Employees’ Union honorary president V.S. Padmanabha Raju said there was no justification to privatise the DCI as it had been earning profits since its inception in 1976.
He said they were planning a massive demonstration in the city on February 19 by mobilising senior national trade union leaders.
