Move to privatise Dredging Corporation of India Limited opposed

Visakhapatnam: Working President of Non-Executive Employees Union of Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL)  P Venkata Rao said that though the DCIL has been registering profits, the Central government selling its 73.47 per cent of shares without considering the facts. 

In fact, the Centre is supposed to pay Rs 167 crore to DCIL, which is long pending due, on the account of the Sethusamudram dredging works. Meanwhile, another Rs 183 crore dues are still pending from various ports and other agencies. 

However, the Centre is not clearing the total dues amounting Rs 350 crore and forcibly privatising the corporation, Venkata Rao alleged. Speaking to the media, Venkata Rao said that the Parliamentary Committee already recommended the government to clear all the pending dues of the corporation. If the dues were cleared, the DCIl would survive on its own performance, he added.

Not considering the pleas not only from the employees, officers, but also from the political parties and the trade unions, the Centre unilaterally privitising the corporation. 

The corporation since its inception from 1976 registering profits continuously. During the last fiscal also, the company earned profit of Rs 16.64 crore after tax as against Rs 7.12 crore in the previous fiscal.

In order to save the PSU, all the employees strived to stop the move. Since the government had taken a decision on November 1, 2017, the employees observed a 40-day hunger strike, but in vain.

Unfortunately, during the struggle, N Venkatesh, a non-executive employee, committed suicide on December 4, 2017. Venkatesh urged the government in his suicide note not to privatise the company.