The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has opposed the leasing of Visakhapatnam Port Trust lands to private parties for commercial purpose stating it would come in the way of future expansion of the port.
The port management had announced its decision to give its lands on 60-year lease to private parties, which were in no way connected to port activities, for commercial purpose. Tenders were called through e-process for the auctioning of 229.30 acres of lands at various places in the city, CITU State president Ch. Narasinga Rao and United Port and Dock Employees’ Union (CITU) general secretary V.S. Padmanabha Raju told a media conference here on Sunday.
The land for which e-tenders were called include 9.60 acres near the Port Stadium, 165 acres near the airport, 10 acres near NAD (Naval Armament Depot) and 18.50 acres near Rain Calcining Limited (RCL). Referring to the media statements of the VPT Chairman that Minister for Information Technology Nara Lokesh had sought land for setting up of IT companies, they said the same was confirmed by the latter subsequently. Mr. Lokesh had, however, maintained that the lands were not being sold to private companies but that the State government would construct buildings in coordination with AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and the port, and provide them on lease to private companies. The CITU leaders wondered as to how the State government could lease the port land, on which it had no right. The cargo handling capacity of VPT was 61 million tonnes and the target of VPT was to reach 125 million tonnes by 2020. The leasing of its lands for non-port activities would make port-based entrepreneurs shy away from the port.
They appealed to the people to resist the moves, which were detrimental to the growth of the city.
