Hindustan Shipyard goes to defence ministry; shipping ministry to set up new shipyard

24 Dec 2009

The government has approved the transfer of Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), Visakhapatnam to the ministry of defence and has given `in-principle' approval to the shipping ministry for setting up a new shipyard of international standard.

HSL will be used for meeting the national security requirements of building strategic vessels for the Indian Navy while the ministry of shipping will set up a new shipyard for meeting the merchant shipping requirements of shipbuilding and ship repair.

Meanwhile, the government last week said it was considering payment Rs5.50 crore towards differential dues (compensation, gratuity and leave salary) of the voluntarily retired ex-employees of Hindustan Shipyard Ltd.

Employees have been included in the financial restructuring proposal of HSL.

The dues will be paid on approval of the proposal by the government. The pay/wage revision liability of Rs16.32 crore to the retired/VRS employees is to be made by the company from its own resources based on improvement in its financial position, according to shipping minister G K Vasan.