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Kolkata Port Trust wants to deploy more dredgers in the Hooghly to tackle the problem of declining draft in the river but the dredging contractor, the State-owned Dredging Corporation of India, is unable to supply the required number of dredgers. Worse, for whatever reasons, it has been unable to fulfil even the contractual commitment to the port authorities. The commitment was to deploy in the Hooghly five dredgers throughout the year and a sixth one for 120 days for unde rtaking maintenance dredging. But that did not happen. Right now, only three dredgers are working and one of them is more than 35 years old with poor performance record. Another dredger, not so old, is working at half its capacity because of some technical glitches. At a meeting with the DCI Chairman at Haldia recently, the KoPT Chairman pleaded for more dredgers, more than the commitment, in view of the criticality of the situation. But the DCI chief pleaded helplessness, requesting the port Chairman to take up the matter with the Shipping Minister. At Sethusamudram, inquiries reveal, as many as seven dredgers are now working — two of DCI’s own and five acquired by DCI on charter. The withdrawal of one DCI’s own dredger (Dredge XVI) from Sethusamudram for deployment in the Hooghly would be possible only with the Minister’s concurrence which, as everybody would guess, might be difficult to obtain despite uncertainty over the Sethusamudram project. But the withdrawal of Gorzano, a Russian dredger acquired on charter for Sethusamudram operation, might be considered for deployment in the Hooghly, it is learnt.

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