Kolkata Port Trust given two weeks to form scheme to collect royalty from cargo handling agents through open auction
In a major step that could go miles in cleaning up the scam-tainted cargo handling system in the country’s 12 major ports, the Shipping Ministry has directed the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) to formulate a scheme within two weeks for collection of “royalty/user fee” from cargo handling agents through an open and transparent auction.
The letter No PD-13014/2/2013-KoPT, dated July 8 from the Shipping Ministry to the KoPT Chairman refers to an earlier letter from the Ministry dated June 13, 2013 where the KoPT was “advised to formulate a scheme for collection of royalty/user fee from cargo handling agents based on an open and transparent auction process.”
The letter also directs the KoPT to comply with the Shipping Ministry’s previous note within two weeks and file a compliance report to the Ministry. The letter reflects the “strong stance of the Ministry,” said officials requesting anonymity.Curiously, the KoPT had slept over the earlier letter written in June 2013, despite allegations of a cargo handling scam worth thousands of crores of rupees. The June 2013 letter was itself written in response to an earlier letter from the KoPT to the Ministry in December 2012, where it had given a specific proposal of levying royalty/user fee from cargo handling agents.
While the then Ministry replied to the KoPT in June 2013, after sitting over the December 2012 letter for more than six months, asking it to formulate a policy of auctioning, the Trust Board on its part did not take any action on it. This led to a section of the officials suggesting that the “shuttling of letters was nothing but an eyewash, as neither the Ministry nor the KoPT wants to weed out corruption.”
In the process, the cargo handling agents, including some media tycoons of Kolkata and a senior ruling Trinamool Congress politician from East Midnapore minted crores of rupees, sources alleged.
The July 8 letter seems to be a serious step towards cleaning the mess in the country’s ports, sources said. The Pioneer recently published series of reports exposing a major scam in cargo handling in 12 major ports including the Kolkata and Haldia Ports. It was also reported how the cargo handling agents were appointed in utter violation of Major Ports Act robbing the national exchequer of thousands of crores.
The cargo handling agents who had their own representatives in the Trust Boards managed to twist and turn the legal provisions to their advantage, thereby scripting what a section of officials at Haldia Port call the “mother of all scams involving Rs 8 lakh crore if not more.” Earlier this week the Ministry had dissolved the Trust Board in KoPT.