“We are in a Catch-22 situation,” said a senior official of the Chennai Port Trust, reacting to last week's Madras High Court order telling Chennai Port Trust to move coal and iron ore out of Chennai port to the nearby Ennore port.

“The court has given only four months time to move the two dusty cargoes. This is very little time for us to act. More important, it is going to be a problem what to do with the employees as Ennore — which is handling coal for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board —  is more mechanised than Chennai and most of the workers in the latter would be without any job,” said the official. The crux of the objection raised by the ChPT (as quoted in the order) to shifting the cargo was that the port could lose revenue (annually, around Rs 250 crore) and nearly 5,000 people could be rendered jobless. However, the Court has directed the ChPT and Ennore Port Ltd to take care of these employees, and ensure that there is no retrenchment.

It also contended that the port has been handling coal and iron ore based on the trade's requirement.

The ChPT has no role in the shifting of coal and iron ore as it is the trade that has to take a decision to do so once the alternative facilities at Ennore are ready. The trade chooses a particular port for its operations based on parameters such as location, availability of expert operators, equipment and cost of operations.

COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE

Forcing the trade to use Ennore may not be practical as the trade has now other options, such as the nearby private ports of Karaikal (in Puducherry) and Krishnapatnam (in Andhra Pradesh) and any unilateral decision to shift these cargoes to Ennore may prove counter-productive, leading only to the benefit of the private ports.

The ChPT official, however, said it is now up to the Central Government and the Tamil Nadu Government to take action. “We will implement whatever decision they take,” said the official. “But, being the direct contact for the 5,000 plus employees, it is going to be a tough challenge for us to convince them to move to Ennore,” the ChPT official said.

On employees, the official said one of the options that may be available with the government is to offer them a voluntary retirement scheme rather than shift the financial burden on to the ChPT and Ennore Port Ltd. The government could also consider taking the legal course, and a decision could be taken in the next few days, he said. The High Court directed the Centre represented by the Shipping Secretary to allot clean cargoes such as containers and cars to the Chennai port and the dusty cargoes such as coal and iron-ore to Ennore port.

COURT ORDER

The order was passed based on a writ petition filed in 2002 by the Avoor Muthiah Maistry Street Residents Welfare Association. The petitioner wanted the court to direct the respondents, including the Central Government, State government, ChPT and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to grant immediate relief by passing necessary orders against the Chairman, ChPT, to prevent the ‘reckless and inhuman' acts caused by unloading of iron ore dust in the Chennai harbour and the consequential pollution in the New Washermanpet area.

The ChPT said stopping coal and iron-ore handling will affect supply to electricity generating units and cement plants. Besides, the net profit of Rs 211.15 crore for 2009-10 would become a net loss of Rs 29.58 crore.

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