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Film star and Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan has lent support to the ongoing agitation of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) staff against its privatisation and said he would write to the Prime Minister on the issue.
An employee of DCI, N. Venkatesh, had ended his life on Monday evening in Vizianagaram and Pawan Kalyan came here to express his condolences to the family and to lend support to the agitation.
Expressing solidarity with the agitating staff, he said the public sector company had been earning profit since inception in 1976 and it should not be handed over to private parties on a golden platter.
He said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to stop the privatisation of DCI. “This is my first wish to him after I supported the BJP-TDP alliance in 2014 elections,” he said. He also urged YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to extend his support to DCI staff.
He met the bereaved family members of Venkatesh at the relay hunger strike camp of DCI employees and asked BJP and Congress MPs, including Union Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, to fight for ex gratia to the family after the tragic loss.
Pawan Kalyan said that the “downfall of BJP will begin from Visakhapatnam, if the Centre does not shelve its decision for strategic sale of DCI.”
Pawan Kalyan said he would never hesitate "to call a spade a spade" and added that "if we keep quiet, even Visakhapatnam steel plant would be sold off very shortly''.
He said he was deeply hurt when he came to know about the NDA Government’s decision on 100 per cent disinvestment of DCI and the suicide of Venkatesh, 28, due to fear of losing job and wondered "why the local MPs, MLAs and Ministers were in deep sleep over such a serious issue''.
CITU State president Ch. Narsinga Rao said DCI had been ranked among the top 10 dredging companies in the world and the Centre's plan should be fought tooth and nail.
"Vizag is what it is today because of the public sector units like the Visakhapatnam steel plant, Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd and the Vizag port. We should strive to protect them," he said.
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