Paradip Port Trust (PPT) chairman SS Mishra unfurled the National Flag on the 67th Independence Day here on Thursday and took salute at the march-past consisting of CISF jawans, students from the Paradip College and different schools of Paradip.
Mishra thanked PPT employees, unions, railways and the municipality for their contributions to the excellent achievements made by the port. The achievements included loading the highest cargo in a year among all major ports, improving the position from fifth to second best performance among major ports in handling traffic, achieving stellar performance in growth of loading of railway cargo and starting agro product exports. He also mentioned the impressive strides the port has made in the realm of infrastructure, capacity addition, efficiency and technology.
The increase in the number of berths, increase in the draught to allow cape size vessels and addition of container berths including those containers with liquid cargo found special mention in his speech.
Reduction in wharfage charges is just one of the measures adopted to make the cost of transaction with the port more attractive, he emphasised and listed out other measures that have been implemented to reduce cost and improve safety.
The PPT’s CSR performance found a special mention in His address. He said that as per the Government’s directives, the policy guidelines are on anvil to expand its scale and scope still further.
Mishra awarded prizes to the toppers of Class-X Board examination of CBSE, ICSE & BSE from the local schools and gave prizes to the platoons which exhibited best performance in the parade. At a separate function, the Deputy Chairman gave away the prizes to the winners of various competitions held on the occasion.