New Delhi, Mar 7 (PTI) Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCIL) and BEML have entered into an agreement to manufacture dredgers and their spares in India.

Dredgers are special vessels used for deepening and broadening sea coasts and river sides by removing sand.

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In a statement, DCIL said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BEML for the design, development and manufacturing of dredgers and its spare parts.

The agreement was signed between DCIL MD and CEO S Divakar and BEML CMD Shantanu Roy in Bengaluru.

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"The organisations would recognise indigenisation as one of the strategic tools to achieve cost benefits and also complement their strengths to build a mutually beneficial strong technical base," the statement said.

The collaboration will extend to the joint study of the potential for the construction of portable cutter suction dredgers for inland dredging by BEML and endeavour for cooperation through joint venture/special purpose vehicles as per the government guidelines.

The production of dredgers and their spares will reduce dependence on imports.

DCIL is a premier dredging company of India under the administrative control of four major ports of India -- Visakhapatnam Port Authority, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (Mumbai), Paradip Port Authority and Deendayal Port Authority (Kandla).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)