VISAKHAPATNAM: Amidst strong opposition from the Port Federations and the Unions, to the Central Port Authorities Act-2016 replacing the Major Port Trust Act (MPT) Act- 1964, the Government of India is gearing up to table the bill in the winter session of Parliament.
The move is being made as a part of the series of reforms the NDA government has resolved to make in the water transport management by giving legal status of companies to all the 12 major ports in the country.
All India Port and Dock Workers Federation led by SR Kulakarni, one of the leading federations among four, after examining the draft bill, expressed deep dissent and opposing it, said, “There are several objectionable issues in the bill.
The chairman, financial advisor, port development officer, operational officer and one official from the Government of India and some other officials are proposed as directors and will be bestowed with several powers as per the new act which will be detrimental to the ports. Calling the new act a ‘great threat’ to the ports in the country, a senior official engaged in port traffic operations said that the government’s proposal to change the stevedore policies will open the gates to the private sector and within no time all the major ports in the country will be in the hands of corporate sector.
While, the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has been tight lipped on the changes made in the draft bill keeping in view the objections made by the federations, the leading unions of the 12 major port trusts across the country made it clear to the federations not to entertain the new act, till the suggestions made by the federations are included in the Act.
“The government has élicited the stakeholders’ opinions on the draft bill-2016. All the five federations have discussed and informed our stand against the bill. We have not accepted several issues proposed in the bill. The government has assured to make changes in the bill. All the five federations have strongly opposed appointing only one director in the board from the employees/workers. The government promised that there will be two.
However, the government has not yet sent the revised bill incorporating our recommendations. Once the bill is introduced in Parliament, we will respond accordingly,” said additional general secretary, All India Port and Dock Workers Federation, DK Sarma.
Warning of agitations if it went ahead with the new Act, the general secretary of the United Port and Dock Employees Union VS Padmanabha Raju said that the situation in all the major ports was like calm before the storm.