Calcutta, July 27: A court-appointed pollution panel has questioned the role of the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) in the sinking of the fly ash-laden cargo ship in the Hooghly.

“The role of the Calcutta Port Trust is questionable,” said environmentalist Subhas Dutta who, along with river expert Kalyan Rudra, visited the site near Budge Budge.

The two are members of the high court-appointed Ganga monitoring committee. Senior officials of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, which monitors ship movement between India and Bangladesh, accompanied the team.

What has intrigued the committee are two port trust letters. The first, written on July 13, a day after the Rajapur I ran into trouble, minces no words in saying the vessel was a hazard to marine life and navigation.

The second, sent on July 24, the day the ship went under, allows the company that had shipped the deadly fly ash consignment to use the jetty facilities and gives it more time to remove the wreck. No reasons have been given on why the port trust suddenly changed its position.

According to the pollution panel, the CPT’s July 13 letter holds Tirupati Vancom, the exporter, responsible for the incident and asks for a bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh — as surety to pay for the damages.

Reacting to the letter, the inland waterways authority’s regional director wrote to its Noida head office saying a CPT official had asked for the movement of all vessels hired by Tirupati to be stopped till the wreck is removed.

“The wreck of the barge, besides being a pollution hazard, is impeding safe navigation in the vicinity,” A. K. Bagchi, director of the CPT’s maritime department, wrote on July 13.

Tirupati was given 15 days to remove the wreck and slapped with a notice for not taking measures to combat pollution.

On July 24, the port trust permitted Tirupati to resume movement for a month. It was given time till August 24 for the clean-up. The pollution hazard, highlighted in first letter, was not even been mentioned in the second.