PANAJI
President of Shipyards Association of Goa, Suraj J Dialani, has said that shipyards in the State have the expertise for ‘Clean River Ganga’ project.
Dialani was speaking at CII Goa seminar on shipbuilding in Panaji.
He said, “I have heard that the government is relying on foreign countries to seek expertise on dredgers. Goan shipyards have the capability to build design and build dredgers, cutter suction dredgers and grab dredgers, which could be used for Clean River Ganga project. The expertise is in Goa. This is the place for the entire country for any inland and coastal ship that you want to build.”
During his presentation, Dialani emphasised on the capabilities of several shipyards in the State. He said, “We can build offshore supply vessels, passenger vessels upto 1,200 capacity and oil tankers.”
Dialani further urged the Central Government to create a framework so that the orders of Indian Navy can directly come to smaller private shipyards.
He said, “Ship orders are being given to defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) on nomination basis. Therefore, DPSUs have a huge advantage. We request the government to create a framework, wherein these orders can directly come to private shipyards so that they can invest back and develop the infrastructure the same way DPSUs are doing.”
“There is an issue. Even though shipyards are permitted under CRZ (coastal regulation zone) regulations, some local NGOs use ambiguous loopholes and send notices. This is nothing but a political agenda,” Dialani
continued.
State Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, who was the chief guest at the event, made an interesting suggestion for the shipbuilding industry to deal with NGO-related issues. “My suggestion to all of you is that there is nothing stronger than disclosure. The industry must come back and start disclosing voluntarily. Voluntary disclosure is the best way because it doesn’t allow false rumour or fake news to spread.”
Sharma’s suggestion was specific to the allegation of the industry that the NGOs use vague loopholes to create problems for shipbuilding companies.
