The Hindu Business Line : Manual cargo handling at Haldia hit again

Kolkata, June 30 Manual handling of bulk cargo at Haldia dock has come to a halt again. The contractors’ workers again stopped work from Saturday evening following breakdown of their talks with their employers over revision of wages and other benefits. The daily cargo throughput at the dock, as a result, has dropped to around 55,000 tonnes from the normal 90,000 tonnes or so.

The Haldia dock authorities claim that the operation of mechanised berths such as oil jetties, mechanised ore berth and containers berth so far remains unaffected. The operation of the BOT berth, No. 12, however, remained suspended from Tuesday. There are a total of 22 vessels inside the impounded dock, including 15 in berths and 10 of them are working. The number of waiting vessels outside the dock is 26.

The strikers on Tuesday blocked the roads leading to the dock complex and closed two gates of the dock, thus stopping movement of vehicles to and from the complex.

It might be recalled that the workers, to press their demands, first struck work on June 1 and continued till June 3. The strike was withdrawn on assurance that issues in dispute would be settled by June 20. But that did not happen. The workers again went on strike on June 21 and continued till June 24. It was withdrawn again on assurance that the settlement would be reached by June 27. But again no settlement could be reached on that day. Meanwhile, a meeting was called on Monday at the Regional Labour Commissioners’s office in Kolkata but with no success. The leaders of the union spearheading the strike boycotted it, it is learnt.

Meanwhile, the acting Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, Mr Anindo Majumdar, is likely to meet the West Bengal Chief Secretary, Mr A.M. Chakraborty, on Wednesday and discuss with him the situation at Haldia dock, according to KoPT sources.

More Stories on : Shipping/Ports | West Bengal

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