Port Blair Port Trust fails to win workers' trust

The Port Blair Port Trust, declared by the government as the country’s 13th major port, has been facing protests from workers, who are unwilling to work in a ‘trust’ structure and fear that the perks of a government job will be taken away from them.

Employees of major port trusts are not eligible for the monthly lifetime pension scheme. Instead, they get a lump sum at the end of the service period.

The Port Blair port has been registered as a trust and not as a corporate entity following the corporatisation mandate of the government. It has been formed with the merger of state (Union Territory)-controlled Port Management Board and Andaman Harbour Work (AHW), which works under the administrative control of the shipping ministry.

The ministry has so far not addressed the apprehensions of the workers. “We will make sure that the workers do not bear any loss or suffer on any count because of the transformation,” said Shipping Secretary K Mohandas.

According to government officials, any change being made in the system after a long period is met with apprehension and it is only a matter of time before people get used to it.

Even as the government prepares to tackle these problems, the port has sought increased grants from the shipping ministry. In the next couple of years, it will require about Rs 200 crore for administration and infrastructure purposes.

On why the port was registered as a trust and not as a company following the corporatisation mandate of the government, Mohandas said: “First, the port has to be commercially viable. So, for now, we have gone for the Trust only. The next in line to be corporatised is the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust,” said Mohandas. He denied any security reasons.

The Port Blair port is of strategic importance to India and is closer to two international shipping lines — Saudi Arabia-Singapore and US-Singapore. Port Blair will have territorial jurisdiction over 23 ports, including East Island Port, Diglipur Port (Port Cornwalis), Mayabunder Port, Elphinston Harbour Rangat Port, Havelock Port and Neil Island Port.

The other major ports are Kolkata (including the dock complex at Haldia), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Tuticorin, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mumbai, Kandla and Ennore. At present, the combined capacity of the existing 12 major ports is about 580 million tonnes per annum while the total capacity of minor ports is around 250 million tonnes per annum.