Two mechanised boats, one with CPM flags fluttering and the other with Trinamul Congress supporters, were patrolling the waters of the Diamond Harbour docks on Thursday afternoon. They were out to ensure that neither could get close to MV Tu Quian which has been sitting idle for over three weeks. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

MV Aryapayak, docked at Diamond Harbour on October 31, laden with pulses from Vancouver. It sat idle for days, with cargo and crew on board, while rival CPM and Trinamul unions locked horns over the unloading. On November 10, it set sail for Kankinara.

If a highway block had driven the Nano out, a dock deadlock is forcing cargo ships to desert the waters of Bengal.

There is a war on the waterfront, 60km from Calcutta, with ships at the Diamond Harbour dock waiting in vain for goods worth crores to be unloaded.

One union backed by Citu, which has been monopolising the dock for years, is now being challenged by a Trinamul Congress-backed union formed last month.

When Metro visited the docks on Thursday morning, supporters of both unions were seen criss-crossing the Hooghly in mechanised boats to ensure that neither could get close to any of the three anchored ships.

The losses are mounting by the idle hour and clearing firms forced to pay a daily demurrage of Rs 25 lakh to the shipping companies are beginning to despair.

“If this stalemate continues, no foreign ship will come to the Diamond Harbour dock,” warned Sharad Varma, the managing director of B. Ghosh and Company, a firm assigned to load and unload cargo. “Who will risk the complete waste of money, time and resources, and the harassment of crew, at a time of such economic gloom?”

The rival unions at the Diamond Harbour dock — where every year around 30 to 40 vessels arrive with 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of cargo — do not seem to care and the administration has done nothing to break the deadlock.

Shipping companies employ clearing agents at the dock to engage sub-agents who in turn bring in labourers to unload the cargo on small mechanised boats.

Till now, the Citu-backed Diamond Harbour Sub-Division Shipping Loading Unloading Workers’ Union was the sole sub-agent at the dock. The union would engage around 600 labourers.

The last municipal elections in June 2008 was the turning point with the Trinamul Congress sweeping the Diamond Harbour municipality, the zilla parishad and the gram panchayat.

To put an end to the Citu monopoly, the Trinamul Congress formed the Calcutta-Diamond Harbour Port Workers’ Union last month.

Pannalal Haldar, the vice-president of the union and also the Diamond Harbour municipality chairman, said: “The Citu-backed union has been cheating the labourers by paying them Rs 20 instead of Rs 29 per tonne of cargo unloaded. If a labourer would protest the low rate he would be benched. We have protested the high-handedness of the union but the district administration has taken no action.”

Dhruba Karmakar, the secretary of the Citu-supported union, blamed it all on the rival union.

“The trouble at the docks has been caused by them in their desperation to gain a foothold here. From October 24, they have prevented workers from unloading by setting up roadblocks and even assaulting some of our members. We have registered a complaint with the administration,” said Karmakar.

Taking the hit are clearing agents like Sharad Varma of B. Ghosh and Company. MV Aryapayak is gone but MV Tu Qiang and MV Konkar Theo are in the dock.

MV Tu Qiang arrived on October 18, laden with pulses from Vancouver. It sat idle from October 24 to November 13. “Finally on Thursday evening, a bit of unloading was done. Can you imagine what the foreign crew members on the board are going through?” said Varma.

MV Konkar Theo, which docked at Diamond Harbour on November 13, also laden with pulses from Vancouver, will have to wait for the impasse to end.

The first sliver of a solution was sighted with the talks table being set for Friday.

“Siddhartha Shankar Chakraborty, the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Diamond Harbour, will be hosting a meeting of the two rival unions, police representatives and administrative heads,” said Kunal Aggarwal, the sub-division police officer (SDPO) of Diamond Harbour.

According to Subrata Hazra, the managing director of Soham Shipping Pvt Ltd, the solution lay in the division of labour among the two unions. “We had proposed this earlier, but no one paid any heed,” he claimed.

Haldar of the Trinamul union agreed to the 50:50 formula. “Around 200 labourers are required to unload cargo from a ship. We can give 100 and they can give 100, but the Citu must agree first.”

Citu leader Karmakar rubbished the proposal. “They don’t have enough labourers, so how can the work be divided equally?” he demanded, blaming the impasse on Trinamul aggression and administrative inaction.

SDPO Aggarwal said “police, RAF and combat force patrolling” has begun on the Hooghly to ensure “normal unloading of cargo” and “prevent a flare-up”.

On Thursday afternoon, it was evident that the police boats were there to just wait and watch, while the two boats — one with CPM flags fluttering and the other with Trinamul men — meant business.

Or maybe the end of business at the Diamond Harbour dock.