Officials oppose division of Gujarat maritime board

The Gujarat government 's plans to divide the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) into two separate bodies may prove to be a tough task.

The state government has been pondering the idea for over two years however, nothing has materialised till now.

One of the reasons for this delay may be an internal opposition against this idea which is brewing in GMB. A faction of officials suspect that post division many small cadres might be put into the laborious task of project implementation in Gujarat Ports Development Corporation (GPDC) and the 'favourites' might get easy jobs in the proposed Gujarat Maritime Authority (GMA).

Speaking to Business Standard, a GMB official said, "Many of the small cadre officials suspect that they will be shifted to GPDC when the division takes place. As the GPDC will be the implementation authority the task is bound to be laborious. Many of them also believe that the division might not take place at all as the project is stagnant at concept level for many years now."

The government is planning to carve out a new body from the present GMB to focus on the commercialisation and development of undeveloped 52 cargo and fishing ports.

As per the sources out of the total 52 ports, 24 ports have the potential to be developed into an intermediate cargo handling port. The rest of them are minor fishing ports that need to be developed.

The concept of the division came because there is a growing feeling in the government that these smaller ports are unintentionally sidelined as the major focus of the GMB is on privatisation of a few identified ports.

The GMB's top officials and the state government are seriously working to modify the present port policy. The new port policy, among other features, is expected to have a new set of rules to allow the separation.

The port policy draft is ready and GMB has received a series of suggestions on the draft. At present the authority is busy with the suggestions. The authorities will consider the most viable suggestion and try to accommodate it in the new port policy.

GMA's main function will be to ensure the development of the ports while the commercialisation aspect will be handled by the GPDC. This way, the sidelined ports will also get the due attention. These two bodies will operate in a synchronised manner as functions of GPDC will be monitored by GMA.

As per the sources in GMB, GMA will work as a watchdog for the commercialised and privatised ports. The proposed GPDC will focus on the development and commercialisation of ports.