Sagar Island port project put on hold

25 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 25 MARCH: The proposed deep-draught port project at Sagar Island has been put on hold for an indefinite period owing to the current financial situation of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) and the adverse technical feasibility reports on the proposed port submitted by RITES.
The KoPT board members, in their board meeting held on last Friday, examined the project in detail and put it on hold for an indefinite period, Mr Debasish Dutta, a member of the board said.
Mr ML Meena, chairman of KoPT, had taken the initiative to set up a deep-draught port at Sagar Island without assessing the feasibility study report that highlights gross irregularities in its own plan.
It was proposed that the port is likely to be developed on the western side of the Island where land will be reclaimed through shore disposal of dredge proceeds from the Auckland bar. Trouble began when experts questioned the feasibility of a port facility with jetties on the western flank that was open to stronger currents and rough seas. It was pointed out that the purpose of reclaiming land would be destroyed if an impounded dock system had to be created there by dredging through the silt that had been dumped. The experts suggested that RITES explore the possibility of setting up a port on the eastern flank where land was already available.
KoPT had appointed RITES to carry out a survey of the project, including a rail-cum-road bridge from Kakdwip to the eastern flank of the island and 30 km of railway track across it to the proposed location of the port on the other flank. But RITES, in association with the Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS) and Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), pointed out some important demerits of the project.
According to the study reports of RITES, if Sagar West Port is situated at downstream of Bedford group of Islands and thereby possibility of sedimentation caused by eroded Bedford Island may yield adverse effect in the approach channel.
Similarly, in the event of Eden channel being in operation, the dredging activity may be concentrated on the North-South aligned Haldia-Auckland-Eden channel for Haldia-bound ships, whereas Kolkata-bound ships will follow the Sagar road-Rangafala route. In that case, the whole river morphology may be reoriented beyond expectation, RITES reported.
Violating all the study reports, Mr Meena had floated a tender of Rs 32 crore for the project without taking any consent from the board members, but it was later discharged by him. He then appealed to the Union shipping ministry to transfer the Budget allocation of Rs 50 crore, originally earmarked in May, 2005 for dumping of dredged silt of Jellingham, the Governing Bar of Haldia, for land reclamation at Sagar Island.
But the Union shipping ministry has recently turned down his request and asked him to do the project with the help of the port’s internal resources.
The board members did not pass the project in their meeting yesterday and put it on hold for an indefinite period.
Earlier, Haldia Dock Banchao Committee had raised its voice against the project, but Mr Meena had suspended one of its officers in Haldia for briefing the matter to the Press.

Haldia to get captive barge jetties soon

23 March 2012

KoPT likely to invite expressions of interest
biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 23 MARCH: The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) authorities are likely to invite expressions of interest for construction of captive barge jetties at Haldia soon. The Haldia-based Hooghly Metcoke, a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has shown interest in a captive jetty.
The KoPT authorities have taken initiatives to execute the plan as per the guidelines of the Union shipping ministry, sources in KoPT said. According to port officials, Hooghly Metcoke at present requires about 1.2 million ton of coal to produce coke for Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant and half of it is imported through Haldia and the other half through an Odisha port.
Renuka Sugar, another Haldia-based company, too had earlier shown interest in a similarly facility and indicated a cargo of one million ton. Citing reasons for taking such initiatives, a senior port official said: “The port will neither required to invest on the construction of the jetties, nor to chase traffic. The jetties will be located on the river front to avoid the limitations of lock operation hitting the existing berths within the impounded dock.”
But, some port officials have ridiculed the port’s recent proposal before the Union shipping ministry to transfer the Budget allocation of Rs 50 crore, originally earmarked in May, 2005 for dumping of dredged silt of Jellingham, the Governing Bar for Haldia, for land reclamation at Sagar Island. This has triggered confusion among some port officials over the justification of the move.
"When land acquisition is not possible for Sagar port, KoPT is going for land reclamation through construction of dyke in the river. Why the same process can’t be repeated at Nandigram side as acquisition of land is not possible here," a port officer in Haldia said. "If the chairman is trying to implement land reclamation at Sagar, then why did he open up Eden Channel at a cost of Rs 8 Crore?" he asked.
The port officials said opening of Eden Channel will not yield any benefit to Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) unless and until capital dredging takes place at Jellingham.
"An unsigned Minutes of the meeting with the secretary (shipping) on 26 October 2010 has been enclosed with the agenda of the Board meeting scheduled on 23 March 2012, where transfer of Rs 50 crore from Haldia A/C to Sagar Port A/C has been proposed, but it is not clear from the document whether this unsigned document can be construed as the approval of the secretary (shipping)," said a senior port official.
Mr KL Meena, chairman of KoPT, was not, however, available for comment.

Creation of Jhargram district opposed

20 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 20 MARCH: The state government's decision to carve out a new district of West Midnapore has received a jolt as several political parties, including the Congress, have raised questions over the justification of the bifurcation. The government has proposed to make Jhargram a new district for better administration and development of the Maoist-hit area.
The Jharkhand Party (Naren) has claimed a separate self-governed tribal parishad, in the line of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in the Darjeeling Hills, comprising tribal areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts.
JKP (Naren) and Suci leaders have criticised the district administration for not inviting them in the all-party meeting over the bifurcation. "Our party came second in the elections in Jhargram and a large number of tribal people supports us. If we are not invited in the meeting, our suggestions regarding the new district will not be heard," said JKP (Naren) president Ms Chunibala Hanshda.
Jhargram is already a police district and the state government now wants to make it a full-fledged district. Accordingly, district magistrate Surendra Gupta had called an all-party meeting at Circuit House recently. Mr Swapan Dube of the Congress, Mr Harekrishna Samanta of the CPI-M, Santosh Rana of the CPI, Subhojit Roy of the BJP, Mr Dinen Roy and Mr Pradyut Bhattacherjee of the Trinamul Congress attended the meeting.
The proposed new district will have two sub-divisions ~ Jhargram and Gopiballavpur. The Jhargram municipality and four blocks ~ Binpur, Belpahari, Lalgarh and Jamboni ~ will fall under the jurisdiction of the proposed Jhargram sub-division, while Gopiballavpur-I and II, Sankrail and Nayagram blocks will fall under the jurisdiction of the proposed Gopiballavpur sub-division.
Some political leaders, however, suggested creation of another block after re-arranging Nayagram and Gopiballavpur blocks. The district administration has already selected eight acres of land in the Jhargram municipal area to set up the administrative building of the proposed district.
Mr Santosh Rana of the CPI said that they have no objection to the formation of the new district, but all the administrative set up should be arranged before the creation of the new district.
Mr Dube of the Congress, however, raised question regarding the justification of the formation of new district.
"Midnapore was divided into two districts ~ East Midnapore and West Midnapore ~ in 2001. In West Midnapore, Jhargram is one of the four sub-divisions which is mostly covered with forests. As this sub-division remained neglected, tribal people are being deprived from all-round development. But, this is the question of political willingness. If any government tries to carry out development works, then there is no need to create a separate district," said Mr Dube.

Traffic slows down in Kolkata and Haldia docks

18 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 18 MARCH: Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) and Kolkata Dock System (KDS) under Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) have reported a dip in traffic handling by around eight per cent during the period April-February due to fall in cargo handling of crude, iron ore and coking coal. 
The fall in traffic at KoPT is the highest among the East Coast Ports and it is far behind the national average of less than one per cent.
According to the reports of Indian Ports Association, traffic handled at KDS and HDC during April to February in 2012 has been recorded as 11,142 metric tons and 28,623 metric tons respectively while it was 11,584 metric tons and 31,611 metric tons during the same period in 2011.
Losses in monetary terms are yet to be assessed, a senior port officer said, adding “the traffic handling during the period April-February this year has decreased by 9.45 per cent and 3.82 per cent at HDC and KDS respectively as compared to 2011”.
This fall in KoPT traffic is attributable to fall in navigable draft at Haldia port. As the navigability of the Hooghly river near Haldia port continues to be a matter of concern for the dock authorities several industrial units, particularly power houses and steel plants in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand that depends on Haldia for importing coal, have now opted for Paradip to meet their requirements, at least partially.
Owing to the low draft, more ships are being called at the Haldia dock with lower parcel loads which means that for loading and unloading the same volume of cargoes more ships will be needed. This in turn increases congestion and the consequent pre-berthing detention of vessels.
Apart from KoPT, the ports which suffered losses include Mormugao, Chennai, Paradip and Mumbai. 
“India is the world’s third-largest iron ore exporter. Ports are dependent on cargo and iron ore contributes significantly to their business. Iron ore exports have witnessed a negative growth, following duty hike in the Budget and a slew of events, including the ban on exports of the raw material from Karnataka since July 2010, following allegations of widespread illegal mining. Production of iron ore in around 45 mines in Goa has also been shutdown due to environmental reasons. An informal export ban is also in place in Odisha,” said a port official.
“The KoPT, which was set to implement transloading facility for large ships carrying coal and other materials, has not been able to materialise the project yet. Transloading involves double handling of cargo. This means unloading cargo from big ships, which can’t come to Kolkata or Haldia because of their low depths, to smaller ships which will carry cargo to the ports,” the official said.

2,000 tortoises seized, two arrested

11 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 11 MARCH: Belda police seized 2,000 tortoises from a vehicle on National Highway 60 near Belda today, and arrested two people who were transporting the animals.
The seized tortoises, which are mostly rare species, were later handed over to forest department officials. According to forest officials, the value cost of the seized tortoises is estimated at around Rs 2 lakh.
The vehicle may have been headed to South-east Asia via Kolkata. A senior forest officer said most of the turtles seized in West Midnapore come from Odisha. Kolkata acts as a centre: once consignments reach the city, they are smuggled to South-east Asia.
In most cases, poor people are used as transporters and the real culprits remain beyond the reach of the law. Turtles are in huge demand in South-east Asian countries, the forest officer said. Some people keep turtles in their homes as good omens, while others like them on platters.
Mr Rana Purohit, an wildlife activist in Midnapore, said the vital organs of turtles are also used in preparing medicines. In Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, the state forest departments focus only on protected areas, leaving turtle smugglers to find their prey in rivers outside of such areas. Mr Ashish Samanta, DFO (east), said the turtles are not only smuggled through Kolkata, but also through the India-Bangladesh border.
"The smugglers use the porous Bangladesh border often as the turtle have huge demand in various countries," he said.

‘Govt mulling new labour policy’

10 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 10 MARCH: The state government is likely to adopt a new labour policy to promote industry-wide settlements, encourage dispute resolution through tripartite settlements and to try to reverse lockouts and work stoppages.
The state government is also moving the Centre to change labour laws to include state governments in the dialogue between trade unions and company managements. “In the changing scenario, labour laws need to be changed. There should not be any bilateral agreement in labour disputes. The state government must be involved, making it a tripartite agreement,” said state labour minister Purnendu Bose. He also said most labour disputes hang fire as state governments are not involved in it. While speaking at a seminar organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce at IOC in Haldia, Mr Bose said: “Instead of protesting and demonstrating, all of us should find ways and means to catch up with the fast moving world.”
Mr Bose reasoned that three decades of Left rule had crippled the state and destroyed the work culture. The situation must change to attract investment. “Bengal is being portrayed as a state without work ethics and with a bad administrative system. We have to change it at any cost,” he said. In a state where labour unions and party politics have always gone hand-in-hand, cleaning up the messy labour landscape in West Bengal will be a tough task for the state government. According to a survey released by the Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC) earlier this year, West Bengal’s industries have been losing around Rs 8,000 crore a year due to shutdowns and bandhs. Calling it the “bandh capital” of the country, the ICC report said for 2009-10, the state accounted for 267 of the 351 or 76 per cent of the lock-outs and strikes in the country.
Last month, Mr Bose declared that government employees should not go on strikes and lead bandhs against the government. A prominent trade union leader himself, he warned of strict action against public servants who take to the streets.

HDA show-cause for closed industries

9 March 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 9 MARCH: The Haldia Development Authority (HDA) is all set to issue show-cause notices to the closed industries in the industrial belt to know the status of the units. The decision was taken at the last Task Force meeting held recently at Haldia Bhavan in presence of state commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee.
The Task Force emphasised proper monitoring and facilitation of utilised land for different industrial purposes in the Haldia industrial area, good relation between labourers and industries and good cooperation with the local government bodies for smooth functioning of the industries.
"As all the state government agencies, including the HDA, have to seek Cabinet approval to sell land, it is necessary to know proper status of all the existing industries. If any industry is closed for months, then its land may be used for other industries which are in the pipeline," said a committee member.
The minister asked the HDA authorities to look into the problems faced by some industries and address those at the earliest. He also said that the state government is interested to set up an Industrial Park in Haldia.
Mr Chatterjee also requested industrialists to make their plants environment-friendly. He emphasised the upcoming nature-based project in Nayachar which will create huge direct and indirect employment opportunities.
Meanwhile, the HDA has taken an initiative for carrying out different development works at a cost of Rs 25 crore in its extended planning area, including Nandigram. “Five years ago, Nandigram turned violent when former CPI-M MP Lakshman Seth as chairman of the HDA tried to acquire land. This time, we will not acquire any land for carrying out development work and a slew of development projects have been taken up in Nandigram," said HDA chairman Subhendu Adhikari.