Haldia port officials to stage demonstration

2 October 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 2 OCT: Amidst the ongoing crisis at Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), which is deteriorating fast with every passing day, the port officials at Haldia port have called a mass convention on various demands tomorrow.
The convention has been called at a time when the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) will convene another meeting tomorrow with all its stakeholders to resolve the ongoing impasse at HDC. The previous meeting last Thursday had failed to yield a solution. KoPT Chairman Manish Jain, however, hoped that tomorrow’s meeting will break the deadlock and appealed to everyone to be present. The port officials at HDC, on the other hand, are all set to convene a mass convention to protest against the actions taken by the KoPT management in the past few days.
“We will demand immediate resumption of cargo handling at mechanised Berths 2 and 8. Through our convention, we will demand immediate withdrawal of suspension and transfer orders against Mr Ramakant Burman who had been leading our movement to protect the port from imminent losses. This apart there are various demands that include dredging at Eden channel,” said a senior port officer.
Meanwhile, as a result of the ongoing deadlock, port operations at Haldia are getting affected and crores of rupees are being lost in trade by way of shutdown of cargo handling at berths two and eight, where Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT), a special purpose vehicle of the LDA-ABG consortium, has been charged to operate.
“It is crucial for KoPT that HBT 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.
Today, there is a clear divide in the ranks of stakeholders. There is one group at Haldia that is pitching for HBT. This group, which includes the Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum and Haldia Dock Bachao Committee, wants the port to survive. The other group, which supports the private company operating at other berths, wants HBT to wind up operations at the port, even if this results in a slide in KoPT’s revenue, a senior port officer said. “Instead of addressing the basic problem, the KoPT, meanwhile, has made its junior assistant manager a scapegoat by suspending him from his job merely based on the district intelligence report, to resolve the dispute. But, a large section of port officials and a shipping circle believe that the report was made either on the influence of the port chairman Mr Manish Jain or on the influence of Mr Adhikari”, a Congress-backed trade union leader, who did not wish to be named, said.
The 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. This apart, many shipping companies are now diverting their vessels to nearby ports thereby leading to more losses of the Haldia port.