Dredging Corporation of India Non-executive Employees’ Union on Tuesday strongly condemned the remarks of MP and State BJP president K. Haribabu justifying the privatisation of DCI.
Reacting to the MP’s comments, NEU honorary president V.S. Padmanabha Raju, working president P. Venkata Rao and general secretary N. Narsinga Rao said DCI had been earning profits since its inception.
Refuting the MP’s claim that DCI’s profit came down drastically during the last fiscal, Mr. Raju told reporters here that the government owed ₹167 crore which the company had invested long ago on the Sethusamudram project. While the high-power committee had recommended payment of ₹309 crore, the government had committed to refund ₹167 crore a few years ago. “Still not a single rupee had been paid back to DCI,” he alleged.
The NEU leader said the major ports also owed ₹273 crore towards payment for works undertaken by DCI. In total, the government and the major ports owed ₹440 crore, he said and wondered how the MP came to the conclusion that DCI was in a financial mess.
Mr. Raju said during the first half of the current financial year, DCI had earned a profit of ₹22.56 crore.
