Three HBTS officials forced to leave Haldia at gunpoint

28 October 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 28 OCT: While the crisis in Haldia port continues unabated, law and order situation worsened today as three senior officers of the Haldia Bulk Terminus Services (HBTS) were allegedly kidnapped and forced to leave Haldia in the early hours today.
Mr Gurpreet Malhi, CEO, HBTS, alleged, “Capt Manpreet Jolly, Mr Jagadish Behara and Mr Bushan Patil (including his wife and 1 yr old daughter) were abducted at around 1 am. Our managers made numerous calls to the police begging for protection. The required help never came despite that about two hours elapsed between first call and the moment abducted people were driven away from the apartment.”
 Mr Malhi, however, said “We have now received reports that our abducted employees are in Kolkata at a safe location.”
 Mr Malhi said, “HBTS is shocked at the complete breakdown of law and order at Haldia. This situation is even more shocking that while criminals were trying to force entry in their apartment, HBT’s managers made numerous calls to the Police begging for protection.”
 A complaint has been lodged with the district police soon after the incident, but none of the criminals has been arrested till late tonight.
 Superintendent of police, Mr Sukesh Jain said, “I have received a complaint and we have already initiated a case. Investigation is going on, but no one has been arrested yet”.
 According to the complaint lodged with the police, a group of 50 armed unidentified criminals barged into their residences in Haldia at around 1 am and manhandled them. The criminals threatened them with dire consequences and forced them to flee from Haldia at gun point. “They were threatened and advised that should they ever set foot in Haldia again, they will face dire consequences”, the complaint reads.
 In a Press release, Mr Malhi said, “HBTS has no doubt that the date for this abduction has been carefully thought about 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 State of West Bengal, the industry, the trade, KoPT and Haldia itself.”
 The incident occurred at a time when HBTS, a joint venture of ABG-LDA deposited Rs 17, 45, 730 to cover the cost of police deployment at the two mechanized berths 2 and 8 where they were empowered to work handling operations. As the law and order situation was not improved, HBTS could not resume its operation for the past one month leading huge loses to both the port and trade.
  “In its order of 19 October, the Calcutta High Court directed the state government to provide HBTS with a safe environment to operate. But this morning’s incident illustrates that Haldia police and State administration is not ready to guarantee safety to HBTS as a company,” Mr Malhi said.