The territorial dispute between the Orissa government and the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is getting murkier.
Though both the parties are fighting legal battles over the issue at the Orissa High Court and the Calcutta High Court, KoPT on Monday said it has already started operations in the disputed area. “We have already started operations in the area two months ago by handling a ship (Merina-R) handling 15,000 tonnes of peas. The port has also asked the shipping community to operate in the area by using cranes, till the proposed transloading terminal comes into being,” said M L Meena, chairman, KoPT.
A top Orissa government official said: “Legally they cannot do it. Even the Supreme Court has quashed their petition and held that the matter has to be decided in the Orissa High Court. The starting of operations at Kanika sands by KoPT has not come to our notice and we will look into the matter.”
The tussle between the two parties started after the KoPT came out with a plan to build a transloading terminal at Kanika sands in mid 2000s. Though the plan was put on hold for some time, it came to limelight recently after the KoPT extended its limits to more than 200 kilometres south of Haldia into the Bay of Bengal covering an area of 28,646 square kilometre, through a notification on November 10, 2010.
The port had even moved the Supreme Court demanding withdrawal of cases pending against it in the high courts, which the apex court rejected last week. On the other hand, things turned worse after the West Bengal government wrote a letter to the Centre backing the port’s move. According to the Orissa government, KoPT’s move would affect seven upcoming ports — Dhamara, Chudamani, Chandipur, Inchudi, Subarnarekha, Bichitrapur and Bahabalpur.
Further raising the pitch, Meena has alleged that Orissa was working in favour of some private parties and a “huge scam” has taken place with the state allotting port land to praivate parties without a proper bidding process. The Orissa government has denied all allegations pertaining to allotment of land for the seven minor ports coming up along the coast of North Orissa.
The KoPT, which was planning to build a transloading terminal, said it has invited bids five months ago and a consortium led by the Shipping Corporation of India, Adanis, Gammon and Transtroy has showed interest. “We expect an approval from the ministry soon on this and an agreement will be signed by December.” The transloading facility is for mid-stream handling of dry bulk cargo up to 70,000 tonnes.
Meena said he will complete all the major projects, including the transloading facility, Haldia Dock II and Dimond Harbour terminal, within three years.
“For the Rs 1,600 crore Haldia Dock II, an RFQ has already been issued. We have received nine bids for that and the last date to submit it is the first week of September. KoPT would invest Rs 380 crore to develop rail connectivity.” With these projects and the one in Sagar Islands, the dredging cost of the port may go down from the Rs 350 crore per year.
Profit zooms five fold
Showing signs of a come back to its past glory, KoPT has posted a 576 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 144.05 crore in 2010-11, against Rs 21.28 crore in 2009-10. While Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) handled a traffic of 35 million tonnes (mt) in 2010-11, in FY10 it had operated only 33.378 mt. Kolkata Dock System (KDS) handled 12.54 mt during the year, against 13.045 mt in 2009-10.
