Parliamentary panel pulls up shipping ministry

In its report on Tuesday, a parliamentary standing committee criticised the shipping ministry for underperformance in various areas. Among the issues cited was the fact that the average utilisation of Plan funds was only 55.45 per cent, which the panel said was “very low, just above the halfway mark”. The committee said since the beginning of the 12th Plan, there was a consistent decline in the utilisation of Plan funds by the ministry.  

“The committee is clueless about how far the ministry will be able to achieve its ambitious plan for capacity addition to ports by 1.53 times the existing capacity at the end of the 12 Plan,” the report said.

The panel said the ministry had apparently failed to plan or execute projects, which resulted in non-utilisation of 45 per cent of allocated funds.

Fund allocation towards water transport was also criticised. “It has got only symbolic allocations during the cited Plan (5th-11th) period. The port sector has less allocation in 2015-16 compared to the Budget expenditure of 2014-15. The committee, therefore, recommends allocation of more funds to the ministry.”

It noted many major ports had been neglected during Budget allocations. Some cash-strapped ports such as Kolkata Port, Haldia Dock Complex and New Mangalore Port had no allocation during 2015-16, the report said. Allocations to Cochin Port, Chennai Port and Mormugao Port were also negligible, it added. “The scarcity of allocations towards the Cochin Port, Haldia Dock and Visakhapatnam Port will adversely affect the revenue earnings of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), as most dredging works are carried out by the corporation at these ports.”

The committee credited the DCI with reducing operational losses during the past two years and registering profits. “We understand the DCI had been in a financial crunch due to its dues from various ports and other agencies, which now amount to Rs 694.14 crore. The committee recommends the shipping ministry take initiatives to release the dues for payment to DCI.”