Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust?s desire of getting management and financial autonomy through corporatisation may not be fulfilled soon as the labour unions of the port are opposing the proposal. The employees of the port have approached labour ministry fearing their oppression by the top management after Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) becomes a company.
The unions also feel that the government may eventually privatise the port by selling its stake. Fear of privatisation has been creating flutters among labour unions of public sector enterprises over the years, weakening government?s will to garner resources through disinvestment.
Chief central labour commissioner N K Prasad had called a meeting of top officials from the port, shipping ministry and JNPT unions on April 13 to take stock of the matter. In the meeting, shipping ministry was represented by its director R Srinivasa Naik.
During the meeting, shipping ministry and JNPT management assured Prasad that the interest of labour unions will be taken into account while going ahead with corporatisation of the port. However, government officials told FE that the matter is likely to be delayed now as more meeting have to be conducted with the employees to take them on board.
The unions have approached the labour ministry at a time when shipping ministry was about to take the proposal to the cabinet for its approval. The cabinet could have been moved this week, officials said. ?The port would have transformed into a company by next month had we been allowed to go forward,? a senior official in shipping ministry said.
Shipping secretary K Mohandas said, ?We are making all efforts to convince the unions that corporatisation has nothing to do with privatisation. We will go to the cabinet once the employees are satisfied about our intentions?.
JNPT, which is top on the corporatisation agenda of the Centre, is currently working as a trust controlled by the central government. Once it becomes a company, it will have a management board that will take all managerial decisions independently.
The ministry also wants to facilitate financial autonomy through conferment of navratna status to the port. Navratna tag allows a company to invest up to R1,000 crore in a project without taking prior government permission. JNPT is already equivalent to a miniratna company, but could not use the attached powers as it is not a company.
The government is trying to corporatise JNPT since 2006. As of now, Ennore
Port is the only corporate entity among 13 major ports of the country. It was corporatised in 2001.