The Hindu Business Line : Concern over Haldia dock crisis due to poor navigability of Hooghly

Kolkata, Oct. 1 The crisis facing Haldia dock due to the declining navigability of the Hooghly River near the dock was discussed threadbare at a seminar organised by the Hillary Institute of Kolkata Port Trust here.

Participants at the event included the port Chairman, Dr A.K. Chanda; the CPI(M)’s Lok Sabha Member from Haldia, Mr Laxman Seth; two trade union leaders, Mr Hemlal Chatterjee and Mr Parbati Das — also members of the Board of Trustees of the port; the Secretary of the Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum, Mr Ramakanta Burman; and senior port officials such as the Director of Marine department, Capt A.K. Bagchi; and the Chief Hydraulic Engineer, Mr B. Chowdhury.

The port officials explained the genesis of the problem caused by several factors, the most important being the unpredictable behaviour of the river rendering several measures adopted to tame it virtually redundant.

Lean season

Expressing concern at the present situation, the trade union leaders emphasised that something must be done urgently to overcome the crisis, which might take alarming proportion in the lean season due to begin from October and continue till February.

Haldia dock, they made it clear, certainly could not be allowed to die as the livelihood of a large number of people was dependent on it.

The secretary of Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum laid the blame at the door of the Union Government.

Shortage of dredgers

He said while Haldia dock was facing the risk of closure due to the shortage of dredgers required for maintenance dredging, as many as seven dredgers, ideally suited for the job, had been deployed at Sethusamudram project, which actually needed dredgers suitable for capital dredging.

He demanded the immediate shifting of some of the dredgers from the Sethusamudram project to Haldia.

The CPI(M) M.P. was of the view that the situation of the Kolkata port would not have deteriorated so much had its operations been left to private sector professionals. “I say this although my party is opposed to privatisation of ports,” he observed.

Haldia, he said, was attracting lots of private investments and the prospective investors were depending heavily on the facilities offered by the dock. Every effort, therefore, should be made to save the dock from its present crisis, he observed.

The KoPT Chairman explained the steps, both preventive and curative, being taken by the port authorities to save the Haldia dock, which accounted for the bulk of the port’s traffic and, therefore, revenue.

More steps needed

Dredging Corporation of India had been asked to procure as many dredgers as possible, more than what was stipulated in the contract between the port and DCI, and the acquisition of Chinese dredgers by way of charter was being examined.

He also felt that mere intensification of dredging would not yield results unless proper river training and river regulatory measures were also taken to stop generation of silt.

The port authorities, in collaboration with Geological Survey of India and CWPRS, were trying their best in this regard, he added.