Paradip Port Trust. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, June 24: The Orissa government wants the Paradip port renamed as Biju Patnaik Port and has sent a proposal to the Union shipping ministry in this regard.

“We have placed a proposal before the ministry of shipping. They are examining our proposal. We will pursue the matter again with the Centre,” said a senior government officer.

The officer said the government wanted the port to be named after the legendary leader considering his contribution to its establishment.

Sources said a proposal for the change of name was first mooted in 2008. But the Centre had then refused to entertain the proposal.

The government’s move got a boost after the Centre renamed the Tuticorin Port Trust in Tamil Nadu after V.O. Chidambaranar, a noted freedom fighter, who ran an indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin and Colombo in 1906 defying the British rule.

The state government is very keen this time. The matter has been discussed at the highest level, sources said.

Biju Patnaik was the moving spirit behind the Paradip port whose foundation was laid by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on January 3, 1962.

The Centre took over the management of the port from the state government on June 1, 1965. The port was opened to traffic on March 12, 1966.

The Centre declared Paradip as the eighth major port of India on April 18, 1966, making it the first major port on the east coast commissioned after independence.

Significantly, Paradip port, which plays a major role in the development of the state’s economy, now faces a major threat from the proposed captive port of Posco at Jatadhari, about 8km away. Opinion is divided over the construction of the captive port of Posco. Most people think that no port should be allowed to operate close to the Paradip port.

Paradip port’s hinterland extends not just to Orissa, but also Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The port mainly deals with bulk cargo apart from clean cargo.

Earlier, the government had named the Bhubaneswar Airport as Biju Patnaik Airport. A number of parks and other projects have also been name after Biju Patnaik.