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Haribabu urges Centre not to sell Dredging Corporation of India Limited shares
Lok Sabha member and BJP State President K Haribabu appealed to the Central government not to sell the government shares from Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL). Haribabu, in a letter to Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari, explained about the importance of DCIL and steps for its revival.
Visakhapatnam: Lok Sabha member and BJP State President K Haribabu appealed to the Central government not to sell the government shares from Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL). Haribabu, in a letter to Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari, explained about the importance of DCIL and steps for its revival.
- The MP says dredging is a strategic sector and its handover to private players will jeopardise the interests of the ports and country
- Says release of dues will help company to come back on track and fund the capital acquisition on its own, even without any financial help from government
He said dredging is a strategic sector and its hand over to private players would jeopardise the interests of the ports and country and DCIL is the only PSU in the dredging field. He said that the DCIL was not able to go for capital investment because of the outstanding dues on account of Sethusamudram to the tune of Rs 167 crore and huge amounts from various ports which have been pending for many years.
Release of these dues would help the company to come back on track and fund the capital acquisition on its own even without any financial help from government, he added. The MP said the DCIL was forced to compete with private players which were not in the same level playing field.
The Indian arms of international players were undercutting the prices because of slump in international market, he said and added the Indian players have substandard equipment and quoting low. Earlier DCIL used to get works on nomination basis from Government of India and at present the company must compete for every work, Haribabu informed to the minister.
The MP suggested to minister that DCIL to be continued as a Central PSU and strengthened by release of all the outstanding dues. DCIL proposal to provide maintenance dredging services at 15 per cent discount for all major ports in India to be accepted, he said and added this would strengthen the company and help the ports to cut down costs.
The capital dredging requirements may be tendered in which DCIL may also participate. The DCIL must be made a central dredging agency to cater to all the dredging requirements for major ports in the country and the financial burden for dredging on ports would come down also, Haribabu informed to the Shipping Minister.
“If the purported strategic sale of DCIL happens, the private/foreign players who till now been concentrating on securing markets by undercutting, to outdo DCIL will get leverage to manipulate rates to their advantage and the government will have no control over the same,” Haribabu alerted the government and requested the minister to consider the issues before taking a final decision on strategic sale of DCIL.
