• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

P. Manoj

NEW DELHI, April 8

THE Union Government is not in a hurry to corporatise major ports in the country and create workers unrest, the Union Minister of Shipping, Mr Ved Prakash Goyal, said here on Monday.

In an exclusive interview to Business Line, Mr Goyal said that he favoured a consensus approach towards corporatisation of major ports and assured that the interests of the workers would be fully protected.

"Even without resorting to corporatisation, the Union Government has been able to successfully privatise container handling facilities at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Tuticorin Port, Chennai Port and Vizag Port," Mr Goyal asserted.

Examples of privatisation cases in the country have only showed that workers interests have been totally protected.

"They have in fact gained from the process through better wages and salaries as demonstrated in the case of privatisation of Balco," Mr Goyal pointed out.

The Shipping Minister's stand on corporatisation comes in the wake of a strike call given by the port and dock workers on April 16 to protest the Government's policy to convert major port trusts into corporate entities.

Mr Goyal had told the port and dock workers unions in January this year that he would get them an audience with the Prime Minister to discuss their fears relating to corporatisation.

"I am trying to set up a meeting between the Prime Minister and the representatives of the workers unions. The date of the meeting would be finalised shortly. But, even without meeting the Prime Minister, I can assure the workers that their interests would be fully protected," Mr Goyal stated.

The opposition to privatisation has come from two quarters. One, from those sections who fear loss of jobs following corporatisation while the other section was opposed to corporatisation/privatisation as a political ideology.

"The first group has no cause to fear that their livelihood would be lost due to corporatisation. Their interest would be fully protected. There would be no compromise on that," Mr Goyal said.

"The other group which is against corporatisation can slug it out in Parliament to espouse their cause," the Minister said.

The Bill to amend the Major Ports Trusts Act, 1963 to facilitate the conversion of major ports from a trustee set up into a corporate entity has been referred to a Standing Committee for scrutiny after introduction in the Lok Sabha.

"The Standing Committee will take their own sweet time to come up with recommendations for changing the features outlined in the Bill," Mr Goyal said.

The Shipping Minister said that the workers should refrain from resorting to strike as it would affect the country's trade, causing loss of millions of dollars.

The Government has so far succeeded in corporatising only the Ennore Port while other candidates such as JNPT, Haldia and New Mangalore Port are awaiting Parliamentary sanction to be converted into corporate bodies.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
Govt in no hurry to corporatise ports: Goyal

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line