Haldia impasse: Police beef up security

29 October 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 29 OCT: An uneasy calm prevails in Haldia as the Haldia Bulk Terminal Services (HBTS), a joint venture of ABG-LDA, failed to resume its operations at the two mechanised berths II and VIII today.
Though the Haldia police have beefed up vigil and set up temporary police camp in front of the gates of Haldia Dock Complex, no criminal has been arrested even after 40 hours of the alleged abduction of three officers.
Attempts are on to identify the culprits, superintendent of police, East Midnapore, Mr Sukesh Jain, said even as a probe whether the criminals were hired from outside is being conducted.
Workers backed by the Indian Trinamul Trade Union Congress (Inttuc), who had been agitating in front of HDC gates for the past few days, lifted their stir today to avoid arrest. The HBTS workers were prevented from joining work as the agitators put up blockades and threatened them with dire consequences.
The law and order situation worsened yesterday after three of its officers were allegedly kidnapped and forced to leave Haldia at gunpoint by a group of criminals.
“The incident has created confusion among industry professionals who are thinking whether Haldia is safe for trade," said an industrialist who is attached to Haldia port.
“We’re heading for a situation where the withdrawal of Haldia’s operations appears to be a distinct possibility though no decision has yet been taken,” an officer of HBTS said.
In a release, Mr Gurpreet Malhi, CEO, HBTS, said: “HBTS has no doubt that the date for this abduction has been carefully thought out as it took place barely hours before HBTS was to resume its operations at Haldia Dock Complex (HDC). It is quite disgusting to understand that some vested interests are continuing to thwart the legitimate efforts of HBTS to resume operations at HDC. It is apparent that these vested interests do not want HBTS’s operations to resume even though the resumption is in the interest of the state, industry, trade, KoPT and Haldia.”
“We wished to resume our operations in Haldia at the earliest, especially after we made the requisite advance payment for police protection. However, yesterday’s events have shocked us. We are deeply concerned over the safety and well-being of our employees and hence are evaluating and deliberating on the options available,” said Mr Malhi.
As a result of the ongoing deadlock, port operations at Haldia are getting affected and crores of rupees are being lost by way of shutdown of cargo handling at berths II and VIII. “It is crucial for KoPT that HBTS remains at HDC as it earns Rs 150 per ton as royalty for the 40,000 ton that is handled at these two berths. The royalty per ton for the other berths is a mere Rs 25,” a port officer said.
Port officials said as the recent stand-off is continuing to affect trade, the port is losing Rs 80 lakh per day owing to the shutdown of two mechanised berths. Besides, many shipping companies are now diverting their vessels to nearby ports thereby leading to further losses of the Haldia port.

Cong, CPM criticises CM’s handling of Haldia

KOLKATA, 29 OCT: The state Congress and the CPI-M today criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's way of handling the impasse at the Haldia port. The Congress said the state government was maintaining a “mysterious” silence on the snowballing crisis for which, it feared, the state will get a bad name if it continues.  Former minister and Congress MLA Manas Bhuniya said: “I don't agree with the chief minister's claim that the situation is normal in Haldia. The state government should have convened a meeting with all the parties as soon as 275 workers were retrenched at the port.”
Demanding an inquiry, the former minister said he had already written to Union minister for shipping, Mr G K Vasan and would soon meet him in Delhi.   Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition and CPI-M Politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra said: “We were apprehensive about a disastrous outcome in Haldia Docks for sometime now and knew this ongoing high-handedness of the Trinamul Congress in Haldia would eventually disrupt the dock's working completely. This strange state government has so far done nothing to resolve the crisis. And some Trinamul goons, while covering their faces, are trying to shut down businesses in the state. The state as well as the district administration is completely silent on such a situations. The incident and its related developments will send a negative message to not only industry houses, but to the society.” sns