Haldia dock officers demand dredgers from PMO

The Haldia Dock Officers' Forum today sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in having at least two dredgers diverted from Sethu Samudram to the Haldia Channel to prevent the dock's imminent closure, accusing Shipping Minister T R Balu of blocking the diversion.

In a letter to the prime minister, Forum Secretary R K Burman said that an emergency meeting convened by Shipping Secretary A P V N Sarma in Delhi on October one and attended by Kolkata Port Trust (KPT) Chairman A K Chanda and Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) CMD, noted the situation at Haldia was 'extremely critical' in absence of effective dredging.

Accordingly, Sarma put up a note to Balu for diversion of at least two dredgers from Sethu Samudram to the Haldia Channel to save the dock from a crisis.

"But, it has been learnt that Union Minister for Shipping approved in file the diversion of dredgers from Sethu Samudram to Haldia, but verbally instructed DCI not to divert any dredgers from Sethu Samudram," the letter said.

It pointed out that as per a five-year dredging contract entered between KPT and DCI on April one, 2002, DCI was to deploy five dredgers -- DRs V, VI, XII, XIV, and XV -- for dredging the navigable waters of Haldia and another dredger (DR XVI and XVII) for maximum 120 days per year in case the other dredgers were unable to maintain the depth.

"But for the last three years, the DCI had not been deploying either DR-XV, XVI or XVII for 120 days as these were deployed at Sethu Samudram under force from Balu, at the cost of the Haldia Dock," the letter said.