Chennai Port Trust turns blind eye to darkness at affiliated office

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on Dec 13, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/chpt-turns-blind-eye-to-darkness-at-affiliated/342821.html

CHENNAI: With the cable fault leading to a prolonged power failure in Chennai Fishing Harbour Management Committee’s office at Kasimedu for more than a week now, the distribution of subsidised diesel to hundreds of mechanised and fibre boats in Kasimedu has been in doldrums.

The two-floor office located inside the compound of Chennai Fishing Harbour, Kasimedu, has been without power supply for more than a week and the outage has badly affected the day-to-day work at the office.

According to sources, Chennai Port Trust, the owner of the whole fishing harbour premises and who have been entrusted with the task of providing uninterrupted power supply to the committee’s office, has turned a blind eye to the repeated pleas made by the staff to restore it immediately.

Besides countable members nominated from Fisheries Department and local police, officials of the Chennai Port Trust have a majority in the committee and chairman of the trust automatically becomes the chief of the setup. 
Besides other works, the committee manages the distribution of subsidised diesel to about 2,000 mechanised and fiber boats, online registration of all boats using the Chennai Fishing Harbour, tracks weathermen’s warnings to fishermen and daily report to their top brasses in Chennai Port and Fisheries Department.

Due to the power outage since last week, all works have been badly affected in the office and the staff are feeling the heat from owners of boats for failing to supply diesel on time.

According to a staff, who wished anonymity, ego clash between the Port Trust management and the Fisheries Department over settling of a bill could be the main reason for the port’s delay in restoring power supply to the management committee’s office. When contacted, Chennai Port’s official responsible for the power supply avoided replying to the question.