The five federations of port and dock workers in the country, representing about 50,000 employees of 11 major ports in the country, have called for the introduction of a Ports Services on the lines of Indian Civil Services.
The port employees also asked the government to review its policy of corporatisation of privatisation and to examine the projects that had been launched on a BoT basis in the country.
The first national convention of the port and dock workers here on Monday also vowed to oppose corporatisation of ports. The port employees said allowing private ports to come up close to the major ports in the country had poached on businesses of the major ports and that this policy should be reviewed. The Union government must take up the responsibility of dredging major ports, the port employees demanded.
Rajya Sabha member Vayalar Ravi, who inaugurated the meet, called on port workers to resist corporatisation. Tapan Sen of the CITU; Harbhajan Singh Sidhu of the HMS and State President of the INTUC R. Chandrashekharan were among the leaders who addressed delegates on Willingdon Island for the port workers’ meet.
