Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, allays fear of closure of the port's dock at Haldia due to the poor navigability of the Hooghly river.
"The fear of closure of Haldia dock, as expressed in some quarters, is unfounded," Dr Chanda observed while talking to Business Line.
He, however, conceded that there were problems facing the dock due to draft constraints in the river. "The siltation of the navigable channel has been a matter of concern to the dock authorities," he said, adding, "but then this is not something that has surfaced all on a sudden; it is there for many years".
The Hooghly river, as he pointed out, was a complex river and therefore its problems too were also complex. "There could not be any quick solution to any complex problem," he said and announced the port authorities' resolve to combat it. "The challenges in the past have been faced and those in future too will be faced boldly," he said.
The kind of panic being created about the imminent closure of Haldia dock was unfortunate, he said, pointing out that this was going to hurt the port, its users and the overall interest of the region.
Dredger issue
Dr Chanda did not agree with the view that the Dredging Corporation of India had sent its Hooghly dredgers to Sethusamudram project. The DCI dredgers deployed in the Hooghly were all dedicated dredgers, tailor-made for undertaking maintenance dredging in the river itself. These dredgers, it was felt, would not be ideally suited for undertaking capital dredging in the Sethusamudram project.
If there was not sufficient number of dredgers in the Hooghly right now, it was because at least three of them had gone for repairs. One of them would resume operation shortly while two others around October.
Meanwhile, DCI had been asked to organise an additional dredger for the Hooghly operation. "But then it is not always easy to get the right type of dredger on a short notice," he said.
The delay in the implementation of the River Regulatory Scheme, according to the KoPT Chairman, had been caused by several factors over which the port authorities did not have control. Besides, the scope of work under the scheme too had undergone modifications due to changes in morphological, hydrographic and other river-related parameters. The scheme, therefore, had to be appropriately reformulated and all this took time.
Meanwhile, the port authorities have decided to launch river training programmes at two pints in the river, Ghoramara and Nischindipur, in November, he added.
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