Bhubaneswar, May 26: Representatives of three upcoming major ports in Orissa today urged the government to lodge their protest against the move of the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) to encroach into areas on Orissa’s northern coast.
Revised limits of the CPT will extend more than 200km south of Haldia into the Bay of Bengal covering an area of 28,646sqkm blocking the entire cost of north Orissa where seven new ports are being developed.
Commerce and transport secretary Gagan Dhal said: “Port officials of Dhamara, Chudamani and Subernarekha today met the Orissa government on the issue. It was decided that a delegation led by chief secretary Bijay Patnaik would meet the secretary of the Union ministry of shipping on this issue on June 2 in New Delhi. We have also prepared a detailed agenda for this meeting.” Earlier on March 3, the state official met the central government officials.
The representatives told the Orissa government that if the CPT did not withdraw its notification, it would be difficult on their part to operate in future.
“They have also expressed their apprehension that they will not get bank loans to expand their activities. Apart from loans, the issue of double taxation is also hunting their mind,” said the official.
The representatives said Orissa would lose heavily in trading if the CPT was allowed to expand its sphere of operation. According to sources, the government would go ahead with a single-point agenda stating that the Centre must ask the CPT to withdraw the notification. “We have submitted all documents to substantiate our contention that the CPT is trying to encroach on the Orissa coast. The ports on the Orissa coast will be affected due to the CPT’s encroachment. Their decision is illegal and an arbitrary one,” he said.
Earlier in February, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had met Union minister of state for shipping G.K. Vasan in New Delhi and lodged his government’s protest against the Centre’s nod to expansion of the CPT.
Officials said the “the revised port limits overlap the entire coast of north Orissa where seven new ports are being developed. It was notified by the Orissa government as per law, prior to the CPT notification on October 22, 2010”.
Official said, as the CPT limits were getting increasingly silted making it difficult for the big ships to enter the port, the expansion had become necessary.
