Employees of the Cochin Port Trust have joined their counterparts across India to oppose the corporatisation of major ports as proposed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget for the new financial year.
“There is no proposal in the Budget to help the financially-troubled Kochi port,” said Mohammed Haneef of the Cochin Port Staff Association.
He said the combine of port and dock workers across the country had already issued a strike notice for March 9 to press the government to roll back its plans for corporatisation of major ports.
President of Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry C.S. Kartha said the move to corporatise ports was a welcome step. The decision-making process under the trust system was long-drawn-out, he said, adding that once it was made into a company, the board of the company would be able to take crucial decisions on its own. However, he said, the employees’ unions need to be convinced about the move or it would pave the way for labour unrest.
Former acting chairman of JN Port Jose Paul said major ports had acted under the trust system and they had not been able to function as vibrant enterprises.
The proposal for corporatisation was pending for a long while now and the private companies had their eyes on the vast tracts of land at the disposal of major ports in the country, said C.D. Nandakumar of the Cochin Port Employees’ Organisation. He said the Cochin Port Trust had about 1,800 acres under its ownership and the asset was a major attraction. What was needed now was to give the major ports the autonomy envisaged in the Major Port Trusts Act, he added.
Mr. Jaitley said in his Budget speech that the ports under government control in the country needed to attract investments and the vast amount of value held by the ports, especially in terms of their land holdings, needed to be unleashed. The Finance Minister quoted the example of minor ports in the country, especially those with private sector players, which have been able to attract substantial investments.
