Kakinada, Jan. 18 The old port of Kakinada is in dire straits for the past one-and-a-half years as the Union Government has imposed a ban on non-basmati rice exports, and there are no other cargoes to keep the port going.
During the current financial year, the old port has handled hardly seven lakh tonnes of cargo and by the end of the fiscal it may cross a million tonnes.
The workers dependent on the port, mostly hailing from the fishermen community, are waiting for some steps by the State Government, under whose control the port functions, to revive its fortunes. It is estimated that nearly 20,000 workers are dependent on the old port, directly and indirectly.
Usually, the old port handles two or 2.5 million tonnes (mt) of cargo, mostly agricultural cargo and fertilisers, and the trend has been continuing during the past decade too, even after the construction of the Kakinada deep water port, which is presently under the management of a private consortium, the Kakinada Seaports Ltd.
Reservation
The State Government has reserved the traditional cargoes to the old port, in view of the large labour force dependent on it, and the new port is allowed to handle “new and self-generated cargoes only.” In spite of the reservation, there have been frequent complaints of cargo diversion to the new port, but the old port has somehow managed to survive. But the going is becoming increasingly difficult.
During 2007-08, the old port handled a record four mt, mainly due to the spurt in rice exports, but in the subsequent year (2008-09) the figure slumped to two mt. The current financial year is proving to be particularly difficult.
According to Mr D. Surya Rao, President of the Cocanada Chamber of Commerce, the old port has always been dependent on agricultural cargoes, rice bran in the past and rice in recent times, and the current crisis is due to ban on rice exports.
“It is for the State Government to come up with certain alternative plans to keep the old port going in these difficult times, as otherwise workers and the trade too will suffer,” he said.
Mr Veerababu, President of the Kakinada Anchorage Port Workers' Union, too, appealed to the State Government to rescue the old port from the crisis.
Source : Business Line