New land policy under inter-ministerial consultation:Minister

"Ministry has already prepared a draft Cabinet note for new land policy, which is under inter-ministerial consultation and I am sure that Cabinet will take appropriate decision on this new land policy before end of this financial year," Vasan said.

He said the Ministry has finalised a 'captive land use policy,' which may be issued before end of this financial year after getting views from Planning Commission and Finance Ministry.

Elaborating on the operations of major ports in Tamil Nadu, he said during this fiscal up to January 15, 2013,Chennai

Port Trust handled 41.88 million tonnes of cargo, which is expected to reach 53.50 million tonnes by end of this financial year.

While VOC port in Tuticorin has handled 22.13 million tonnes and is expected to reach 28.50 million tonnes, Ennore port handled 12.21 million tonnes and the figure is expected to

touch 15 million tonnes by end of this fiscal, he said.

Noting that the capacity of Indian ports has crossed 1200 million tonnes per annum, he said "In the last two years, capacity of Indian ports has grown by about 15 per cent per year."

Of the 42 projects planned, the minister said tenders have already been floated for 17 with capacity of 52 million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs 3600 crore and for the remaining, tenders would be floated by March 2013.

Earlier, he handed over a cheque of Rs 50 lakh to Dr V Shanta, Director of Cancer Institute here, as part of Shipping Ministry's corporate social responsibility (CSR).

In line with the Shipping Ministry's guidelines that every port must earmark three to five per cent of the previous fiscal's net profit for CSR activities, for the 2012-13 fiscal, Chennai Port Trust, Ennore Port Limited and VOC Port Trust have earmarked Rs 77 lakh, Rs 2.72 crore and Rs 3.06 crore respectively.