Improved VRS for Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers cleared

Move to enable company's restructuring through JV or disinvestment

The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared improved a voluntary retirement scheme for employees of Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Ltd (HDPEL), paving the way for restructuring of one of the oldest shipyards in India or disinvestment by the government.

Implementation of the improved VRS package would substantially reduce HDPEL’s manpower, helping in downsizing, an official statement said.  “Thereafter, HDPEL would become amenable to re-structuring,” it added. The scheme will be open for three months, with a provision of extension by another one month. After the implementation of the improved VRS, a joint venture with the private sector would be attempted, failing which the company would be disinvested, the statement said.

The current VRS package is at the old pre-revised scale, which would provide better retirement benefits to the HDPEL employees.

“This decision will take care of employees' welfare as well as prevent recurrent loss to the public exchequer,” the statement noted.

HDPEL has two units, one in Salkia and the other in Nazirgunge located on the banks of the Hooghly River. However, both units have been suffering heavy losses.

The company was established in 1819. Subsequently, in 1973, it merged with Port Engineering Works, which had been under the control of Andrew Yule Ltd. The Company was nationalised in 1984 according to the Hooghly Dock & Engineering Company (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act, 1984 and was renamed as Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Ltd.

Apart from its expertise in building diversified vessels, the company carries out all sorts of repairs right from ocean going ships to small marine crafts with the help of skilled dedicated workforce and other infrastructure.