Goon-raj at Haldia port hits trade

23 October 2011

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 23 OCT: Despite regular patrolling and inspection by the police, incidents of pilferage and sabotage by anti-social elements are frequent in Haldia. Regular theft of high value cargo like iron ore fines, sugar and coal in broad daylight from outside port premises has reached such an alarming proportion that if immediate action is not taken, the economy of trade and shipping will be disturbed. Some iron ore traders allege the pilferage sometimes goes up to 10 per cent of the parcel load of ships and the monthly value of only iron ore pilfered from around 500 trucks and dumpers everyday is around Rs 22.50 crore.
Haldia port, which is facing an unprecedented financial crisis owing to low draft, handled cargo traffic of 41.5 million tons during 2008-09. This time, owing to decline in draft and commissioning of Haldia-Paradeep Crude Pipeline by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the traffic for the current financial year is slated to be 31.5 million tons only, a senior port official said.
Sources in Haldia port said iron ore constitutes 20 per cent of the total cargo handle at Haldia port and if the pilferage of cargo does not stop immediately trade and industry will be left with no alternative but to shift to other neighbouring ports like Paradeep and Visakhapatnam.
Hooghly Metcoke, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Sree Renuka Sugars, Ennore Coke Limited and many other companies which use Haldia port are not able to move their cargo freely because of broad daylight theft of their materials outside the port area. These industries are already contemplating to shift their base to other, safer, locations, said a senior port official. Trade bodies like Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) have already taken up the matter with the port authority and state administration earlier, but no steps against iron ore mafias in Haldia have been taken beside the recent arrest of the CPI-M councillor of Haldia municipality and iron ore exporter, Sheikh Mujaffar.
Mr Mujaffar’s elder son, according to sources, too is accused of illegally dealing in iron ore. Normally iron ore is transported through trucks or dumpers from Kharagpur to Haldia for export. Gangs led by some prominent mafias hijack the trucks and bring them to their storehouses which are situated near the port. After unloading a good quantity of high grade iron ore from the trucks or dumpers, they mix impurities in the rest and send it on to the port. “This process is taking place every day, under the nose of district and port administration, but no proper steps have been taken so far against these mafias,” said an industrialist. He said: “The Central Bureau of Investigation has recently begun a probe into the alleged iron-ore export scam through various ports, including Haldia, in which miners use the railways for sending their export consignments to the ports as meant for domestic consumption. The pilferage of high quality cargos should also be probed by a proper investigating agency here