Calcutta, Oct. 16: The navigable depth of Haldia port is fast receding in the absence of adequate dredging, the latest internal survey of the port has revealed.

The study carried out yesterday found the depth (water level during low tide in the river) in one of the tracks in the guiding channel — called Auckland — to the port was only 3.6 metres.

The last survey done on the river on September 24 had found the depth in the track to be 4.5 metres.

A minimum depth of 5.5 metres must be maintained by scooping up silt regularly from the riverbed so big ships can call on the port.

The depth of 3.6 metres corresponds to 6.5 metres of draught (depth during high tide minus the clearance required under a ship). The minimum Haldia needs for large sea-going vessels is 6.6 meters.

The Telegraph had reported on October 2 how the underwater monster feeding on mud was posing possibly the biggest threat to Bengal industry after the Singur controversy, choking the river leading to the port, a lifeline to many an industry in Bengal and most of eastern India.

Alarmed by the latest findings, the Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum today wrote to the Prime Minister, the chief minister, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee and the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping, Sitaram Yechury.

The secretary of the forum, R.K. Burman, blamed shipping minister T.R. Baalu for the situation. “Dredgers aren’t coming to Haldia because the minister wants them for the Sethusamudram project in his state, Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Calcutta Port Trust chairman Anup K. Chanda admitted that indications from the survey were not good but said the port would not announce the official draught on the basis of it.

“We will carry out a more detailed survey in a week. But the trend is bad,” he said.

Chanda held series of meetings with port officials and pilots during the day to chalk out plans to stave off the crisis.

He also wrote to the shipping ministry iterating the demand for two additional dredgers for Haldia, over and above what is due for the port.

According to the contract with the PSU Dredging Corporation of India, five machines are supposed to work in the channel round the year and another is expected to be available for 120 days a year. However, only three machines of the Dredging Corporation of India are at work now.

A fourth dredger was to join in October but it has not reached so far. “It should have come by now. I hope it joins shortly. But I have asked for two additional dredgers,” Chanda said.

Another is scheduled to come in November.

“We have to see whether ships can avoid the area. If that is not possible, there is a real cause for worry,” Chanda added.

The water level recedes during winter, making ship movement worse.

Work on an alternative channel for the port, Chanda said, was stepped up further today. He was hopeful of the channel being thrown open to ships in a few months.