Dredging Corp workers on mass leave to protest disinvestment

To protest any strategic disinvestment of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), its workers, including shore-based executives, went on mass leave today at Vishakhapatnam, the company said.
The government, on November 1, had approved the sale of its entire 73.47 per cent stake in the DCI. The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
DCI is in receipt of an office memorandum by Department of Investment & Public Asset Management, Ministry of Finance, informing constitution of an inter ministerial group (IMG) for appointing transactional and legal advisers for the strategic disinvestment of GoI equity of DCI, the company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.

"In protest against the above, both the shore based executives and non-executives of DCI at Head Office, Vishakhapatnam have gone on mass leave on November 21, 2017," DCI said.
It added that the employees sat on a dharna at the main gate and did not allow the Directors and CMD to enter into the head office.
However, it said, "the operations of the dredgers at various projects are going on smoothly..."

The disinvestment of the government's entire 73.47 per cent stake in the company could fetch about Rs 1,400 crore to the exchequer.
The dredging company is under the administrative control of the shipping ministry.

It is involved in maintenance dredging, capital dredging, beach nourishment, land reclamation, shallow water dredging, project management consultancy and marine construction.
Shares of DCI closed 1.97 per cent up at Rs 710.50 per unit on BSE today.