In February, Union shipping minister had said that the appointment of a new chairman for the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) “can be expected to be made very shortly”. Two months hence, that has not happened despite the post lying vacant since the last chairman stepped down in June last year.
Instead, the current deputy chairman of the Kolkata port, A Majumdar, who has been heading KoPT, was slated to leave the organisation at the end of next month, sources said. He will be moving to New Delhi as joint secretary in the ministry of agriculture.
Although a number of names for the position of KoPT chairman have been making the rounds in the recent months, there is no clarity about who will be appointed or when that might happen, sources added.
It is understood that Rajeev Dubey, the current deputy chairman of the Haldia port, which is administered by KoPT, will take over Majumdar’s responsibilities.
Meanwhile, after a brief spurt of interest in the affairs of KoPT, West Bengal’s primary maritime facility has been ostensibly relegated to the back seat as the state’s political outfits ready to battle at the upcoming municipal hustings.
Earlier this month, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union shipping minister GK Vasan and Minister of State for shipping Mukul Roy were slated to meet in the city and subsequently, were expected to announce a blueprint for the revival of the port.
However, this meeting was called off on the morning of April 10, the day it was supposed to take place. Since then, a new date for a similar meeting has not been announced.
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KoPT sources indicated that the current abatement of political interest in the port could be a result of infighting that is taking place between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the state Congress alliance over seat-sharing.
While TMC’s Mukul Roy holds a portfolio in the shipping ministry, Congress heavyweight Pranab Mukherjee heads the finance ministry, which will have to sanction any project that the former ministry moots. When contacted, Roy said he was busy with a “municipality meeting”.
Earlier this year, Union shipping minister Vasan had asked KoPT to draw up a detailed proposal for a Rs 995-crore River Regulatory Measures (RRM) scheme that would comprise river training works and capital dredging to improve the depth of critical navigational channels at Haldia port.
Sources said that WAPCOS (Water and Power Consultancy Services), a part of the Ministry of Water Resources, had submitted its report to KoPT on the RRM issue. Subsequently, this will be deliberated within the port before being forwarded to the Shipping Ministry. “But this could take a month or two,” an official said.
KoPT officials, however, were dismayed by the fact that organisation was yet to get a full-time chairman. “If the ministry (of shipping) cannot even get a chairman appointed in all this time, how can they talk about a Rs 1,000-crore project being implemented,” an official wondered.