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The workers of Visakhapatnam port staged a demonstration here on Tuesday in front of the port under the leadership of the United Port and Dock Employees' Union in protest against the Major Ports Authority Bill, 2016.
Union general secretary V.S Padmanabha Raju said the NDA Government had introduced the bill to replace Major Ports Act, 1963, to erode the autonomy of major ports and to sell off the valuable assets of the ports to corporates in the country and abroad.
He said the major ports in the country were in possession of a huge chunk of land, 73,000 acres, and "now they cannot sell the land. The Government is introducing the new bill to sell off these lands to corporates. Already, a lot of private investment has been brought into the major ports under the PPP mode and the Government now wants to subvert the PSU ports further."
He said the new bill would also enable the ports to park their funds in private sector banks and it would hit at the interests of the labour in many ways. It should therefore be opposed by all port workers in the country, he added.
Later, a memorandum was submitted to the port chairman.
sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in
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