Source: http://www.portwings.in/ports/conveyor-belt-tragedy-rekindles-cbis-date-with-chennai-port/
Chennai:
Port Wings News Network:
While the Chennai Port is preparing a roadmap for
reviving the handling of coal in the next few months after the Supreme Court
gave a direction, the recent accident, where a dilapidated structure – a
conveyor belt system to move coal from vessels to dumping yard, has opened the
old debate among the port employees.
For many employees in the Chennai Port, though it was a
non-fatal accident, the dilapidated conveyor belt system is seen as a standing
testimony of how the corruption systematically moved the coal handling away
from the port.
CBI & COAL
CONVEYOR BELT:
After convinced with a tip-off from a port employee about
a possible corruption in its procurement, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
filed a case (RC0322011A0018)against the then Chairman of the Chennai Port
Trust and other few officials involved in the decision making for causing wrongful
loss to the Port Trust in the matter of procurement of coal conveyor system.
Ever since the case has been registered, the coal conveyor
belt system, installed at an estimated cost of Rs 43 crores, literally became a
cynosure among the port employees.
While the CBI made it as one of the physical evidences,
and since the Madras High Court also banned handling of coal in the port in
2011, the whole conveyor belt system remained cut off from the day-to-day
activities and the employees linked with the coal handling division also never
enters the area.
The CBI’s Continuing
TRAIL:
After registering the case, the CBI had initiated an
investigation into the alleged embezzlement of funds by top port officials
during installation of a conveyor belt system for transporting coal at a cost
of Rs 43 crore.
According to an ex-employee of the port, the CBI probe
began after a complaint alleged that the private player given contract for
installation had put up only 250 metres of belt against the mandated length of
275 metres.
“The installation of the conveyor belt system and its
commissioning in November 2009 has remained a mystery as the Port Trust
management, which used to invite media for all its functions, did not invite
anyone then and just sent a picture of the inauguration by the then Chairman of
the Port Trust Capt Subhash Kumar in the presence of then Chief Mechanical
Engineer K P Ramanathan. While the first installment of payment (25 %) to the
contractor was released as per the agreement clause, the second installment was
made in full secrecy,” said the employee seeking anonymity.
Speaking to Port Wings, another employee linked to an
influential trade union in Chennai Port, said, “Contrary to a clause on
payments in the contract, Mr Ramanathan, during former Chairman K Suresh's
tenure had sent a note to the port’s Finance Department to release 50 per cent
of the remaining amount in the interest of the project.”
“Though the contract clearly defined that the second
installment had to be paid only after the full installation and commissioning
of the belt, then CME, flouting all rules, sent the note asking to release the
sum even though the facility was not fully installed,” he added.
Though the department turned down his plea at the first
instance, the payment was indeed released within a day after intervention of
top officials of the Port Trust. However, the CBI enquiry on the conveyor belt
met a dead-end after the Government of India declined permission to the agency
to prosecute the then Chairman of the Port Trust, who is now holding a senior administrative
post in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
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